Smotrich, Feiglin confirm joint run for elections, urge other right-wing parties to join

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who chairs the far-right Religious Zionism party, announces a joint run as a technical bloc for the upcoming elections with Moshe Feiglin, chair of Zehut.

“The time for responsibility has come,” Smotrich says in a post announcing the move.

The move comes amid pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to unite smaller right-wing parties to prevent votes from being lost should one or more of them fail to cross the electoral threshold. Itamar Ben Gvir has refused to run his Otzma Yehudit party together with Smotrich again, as has Ofer Winter and his new People of Israel party.

Nevertheless, Smotrich urges other parties to join them.

“I call from here to all parties in the National Bloc: take responsibility and join us. I will ensure that no voice on the right is lost,” he says.

Smotrich warns that the achievements of the outgoing government are at stake if they lose.

“The future of the national camp is at stake – the future of the settlements, the legal system, security, and our ability to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state,” he says.

Feiglin’s Zehut (Identity) party failed to cross the electoral threshold the last time it ran, in 2019, and is now polling at less than 1%.

Smotrich is also polling on the cusp of the threshold.

In response to the announcement, Winter says that “the people of Israel want something new.”