Smotrich and Feiglin approach party merger — Zehut chairman expected to receive second spot
As negotiations progress, Moshe Feiglin is on his way to the second spot on a joint list with the Religious Zionism party. At the same time, Otzma Yehudit flatly rejects a merger, and Itamar Ben Gvir attacks the Prime Minister: "I should remind you, I am not Benny Gantz." Yair Netanyahu and Almog Cohen fired back: "You were about to bring down the government yourself."
Against the backdrop of Benjamin Netanyahu's pressure on Itamar Ben Gvir, contacts between Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich and Zehut party chairman Moshe Feiglin are progressing. According to the emerging outline, Feiglin will be placed in the second spot on the joint list, while the parties negotiate additional spots. Among other things, a proposal was raised to reserve the eighth and tenth spots for representatives on behalf of Feiglin.
Simultaneously, against the backdrop of criticism that the main activity of Religious Zionism in the current term focused on Judea and Samaria, the party launched the "Yes. We are Judaizing!" campaign. As part of the campaign, the party presents a plan to expand Jewish settlement in the Negev and the Galilee, attempting to replicate in the north and south the model it claims to have led in Judea and Samaria. The plan includes establishing settlements and farms, expanding existing ones, and more.
Contacts between Smotrich and Feiglin are taking place alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call to Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir to discuss the possibility of merging. In an official statement on behalf of the PM, it was stated: "We must not waste a single vote, we must unite to save the right-wing bloc!".
Conversely, the Otzma Yehudit party was quick to issue an official statement in response to Netanyahu's words: "The Otzma Yehudit party and the Religious Zionism party will not run together in the upcoming Knesset elections. This decision is final and absolute." They added that the planned meeting will not take place, and no further contacts on the subject will occur.
Instead of a merger, Otzma Yehudit called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to "promote the two correct and realistic alternatives: either a merger of all fragments of small parties, or the use of the reserved spots the PM received in Likud for Smotrich, to ensure the victory of the right."
Following the reports on contacts between Smotrich and Feiglin, Ben Gvir attacked Netanyahu:
"I was stunned by the reports that Smotrich and Feiglin conducted advanced negotiations for a merger under your mediation, and only to 'pressure Feiglin,' you and Smotrich came out with a staged call for unity with me. Mr. Prime Minister, I should remind you: my name is Itamar Ben Gvir, not Benny Gantz."
Knesset member Almog Cohen (Likud) responded to Ben Gvir's post:
"A cynical game? On the eve of the budget, you were about to bring down the government. If it weren't for me voting in favor contrary to your instruction, you would have been in the opposition. Stop shooting at your own side. If you don't look at the good of the bloc, we will get Mansour in the cabinet."
The Prime Minister's son, Yair Netanyahu, also responded:
"Lies and deceit! The only reason for the desire for a merger in a technical block is the desire not to waste right-wing votes on parties that will not pass the electoral threshold. You don't care if a Yair Golan-Eisenkot-Muslim Brotherhood government is established. You only know how to make TikTok videos anyway."
Yair further claimed that under Ben Gvir's tenure, the police became an "executive arm of Kaplan," persecuting right-wing activists while allowing the left to block roads and cause anarchy.
