The National Union and Jewish Home parties are discussing a vote-sharing deal ahead of coming national 
Hershkovitz said that the Jewish Home would be the only party that "will fight for Judea and Samaria from within the Netanyahu government."
elections. Any further collaboration between the parties, according to Jewish Home head Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz, is dependent on a signed memorandum of understanding.
Hershkovitz told reporters on Thursday, "We deliberated over the matter for some time, considering the National Union's decision to split the nationalist camp and withdraw from the Jewish Home, preferring narrow interests over the good of the entire camp. At the same time, we thought, it is in just such a situation that we are obligated to be the responsible and unifying force. Out of a sense of responsibility to the public and concern over lost nationalist camp votes, we decided to sign the vote-sharing agreement."
The Jewish Home's Red Lines
Any further collaboration between the Jewish Home and the National Union, including an agreement to refrain from campaign attacks among the respective parties, Hershkovitz said, was subject to a signed memorandum of understanding between them. Such understandings, he explained, would have to include a statement to the effect that the State of Israel is the "beginning of the flowering of our redemption."
Furthermore, according to the Jewish Home leader, formal political understandings would only be possible with a party recognizing that "we are loyal to the path shown to us by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and his son Rabbi Tzvi-Yehuda Kook, according to which, service in the Israel Defense Forces is a holy mission, which should be encouraged.... We renounce any movement or organization that scorns or devalues IDF soldiers and the State of Israel's institutions - the national anthem, the national symbols, the flag, Remembrance Day, Independence Day, and the legislative and judicial systems. We pledge to refrain from collaboration with anyone who expresses himself in that way. We condemn and will act against any signs of violent behavior, physical or verbal, directed against IDF soldiers and Israeli police officers. He who raises a hand against a representative of the state is as someone who raises a hand against the State of Israel. ...Recklessness and violence are not our way."
Hershkovitz explained his party's position on political agreements during a tour of Jewish townships in Samaria, where he met with regional government heads and community representatives. As for a coalition agreement with the Likud after elections, Hershkovitz said that the Jewish Home would be the only party that "will fight for Judea and Samaria from within the Netanyahu government."
What is Vote Sharing?
Whatever other conditions the Jewish Home may place on its collaboration with the National Union, a vote-sharing agreement between the parties would only be able to take effect in the event that both of them earned enough votes individually to get into the Knesset. The latest Dialog Institute election poll, from January 18, shows the National Union with enough votes for four Knesset seats and the Jewish Home with enough for two, one less than the necessary minimum.
Israeli vote-sharing agreements involve a pooling of votes earned by both parties in national elections. The total pooled votes are then divided between the parties according to the relative number of seats each party would receive individually. In this way, the parties' combined excess votes (those not sufficient for a Knesset seat on their own) might add up to an additional seat, which would go to the larger of the two parties.
National elections are slated to take place February 10.