Smotrich says he’s willing to take a back seat if national religious parties unite

Union of Right-Wing Parties MK Bezalel Smotrich urges national religious factions on the right to run on a joint slate in the September 17 Knesset elections, saying he is willing to give up his spot as No. 2 on URWP’s list to make it happen.

“I announce here that I’d be the first to give up his place or position in order for this joint run to succeed,” Smotrich says during a conference at Bar-Ilan University.

“I will do this again and again with great happiness in order for religious Zionism and for everyone to the right of Likud to go together on one [ballot] slip,” he adds.

Smotrich says that with such an alliance, “we can advance everything that is important to us, including [Israeli] sovereignty” in the West Bank.

Separately, lawmakers from Jewish Home, whose leader Rafi Peretz heads the URWP, say they will keep the same electoral slate for the September vote and not hold primaries among party members. Jewish Home’s central committee will vote on the proposal next week.

“In a period of political turmoil there is a need for stability,” the party says in a statement.

While a number of national religious politicians have issued unity calls light of the failure of the New Right and Zehut parties to clear the vote threshold in April’s elections, they have continued to chirp at each other in recent weeks over who should lead the electoral alliance and which figures should be included in it.