Right-wing parties to skip Likud-led right-wing rally in Jerusalem

‘It’s a Likud event, we have no plans to take part,’ says spokesperson for New Right party; parties were fined for similar event in 2015

Two right-wing parties said they would not attend a Jerusalem rally in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu billed as an event to bring right-wing voters together planned for Sunday, two days before the election.

Under the banner “Protecting the land of Israel, strengthening Netanyahu,” the demonstration was pegged as a right-wing protest.

But Naftali Bennett’s New Right and Rafi Peretz’s Union of Right-Wing Parties said they won’t participate in the event, scheduled to take place at Paris Square.

The New Right confirmed that neither Bennett nor Ayelet Shaked will partake in the rally.

“It’s a Likud event, we have no plans to take part,” a party spokesperson told The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a campaign rally in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, on March 15, 2015. (AFP/Jack Guez)

Ahead of the 2015 elections, a similar event was held in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, days before Israel went to the polls.

At that rally — “Uniting for the sake of the Land of Israel — Netanyahu was joined by then-economy minister Bennett, who led, at the time, the Jewish Home party, as well as Eli Yishai, leader of the hard-right Yachad party, and Yisrael Beytenu representatives. The rally drew an estimated 25,000 participants.

In October 2016, however, the state ombudsman fined the right-wing parties for their participation in the event.

The Likud and Jewish Home parties were fined some NIS 850,000 ($222,000) and Yisrael Beytenu was fined close to NIS 200,000 ($52,000). Shapira found the three of them broke campaign finance rules when candidates appeared at a political rally ahead of the election, in a period during which they are not allowed to canvas for votes.

Israel heads to the polls on April 9.