Ya’alon’s Telem party to quit Knesset race if no merger sealed — report

The Maariv daily cites a “knowledgeable source” as saying Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem party will quit the Knesset race this week if it doesn’t merge with several other parties.

The report says Telem aims to unite first with Ron Huldai’s The Israelis party, and will then try to merge with the revamped Labor Party headed by MK Merav Michaeli.

Telem, which split from Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and rebranded itself as representing the protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been struggling in opinion polls, as has The Israelis.

Mergers are seen as a virtual certainty this week on the center-left and on the right, to prevent votes from going to small parties of which some are sure to fail to enter the Knesset in the March 23 elections.

The deadline for finalizing the party slates is Thursday.