The heads of the Otzma Yehudit party
The heads of the Otzma Yehudit partyEliran Aharon

The leaders of the Otzma Yehudit are preparing for possible elections. In a meeting with youth in the city of Rehovot, one of the heads of the party, Itamar Ben Gvir, said he believed that after the upcoming elections there would be a party in the Knesset which is to the right of the Jewish Home.

Otzma Yehudit ran on a joint list with former Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s Yahad party in the 2015 election. However, Yahad narrowly missed the 3.25% minimum threshold necessary to enter the Knesset.

Ben Gvir opined that there is no better opportunity than now for Otzma Yehudit to enter the Knesset, with Israelis seeking to vote for a rightist party but the options at their disposal being very disappointing.

"The upcoming elections come at a time when the parties that make up the Israeli government are at an all-time low and the trend seen in the polls will only continue when the Israeli people find it difficult to trust the politicians who now serve as party leaders: Bibi, Liberman and Bennett were all partners in a government that continuously capitulated, surrendered to terrorism, allowed the terrorist gang in Gaza to dictate the agenda of the State of Israel, surrendered in the last campaign, gave money to Hamas, opened the crossings and allowed everything possible to enter Gaza, permitted the Chief of Staff to conduct an independent policy, enabled the police commissioner to cave to agricultural crime and violence in the Arab sector, and even when the Supreme Court allowed it to enforce the law among the Bedouin, it is afraid to do so even in an era in which there is no international pressure," he said.

Ben Gvir added, "We must understand that there are some precious people in the Jewish Home and several figures who I personally admire, but they need reinforcement from the right. The situation in which Naftali Bennett is the right-hand cursor of the Israeli government is not normal and healthy, when Naftali in his diplomatic and religious views is closer to the center than to the right.”

“I believe that in light of the huge disappointment with this government, after the Knesset elections there will be a party to the right of the Jewish Home. If I was one of the politicians of the Jewish Home, I would not be afraid of such a thing. On the contrary, it is a welcome thing that there will be another party that will move the Knesset to the right," he continued.

As for the possibility that the various movements on the right would join together, Ben Gvir said, "In my opinion, this is welcomed. I am in favor of cooperation with [Moshe] Feiglin and Eli Yishai, but this time we have to determine the list according to the voter's wishes. There is [Michael] Ben-Ari, there is [Baruch] Marzel and there is [Bentzi] Gopshtain. Each of them will have the support of tens of thousands of people. The last time, when we ran with Eli Yishai, we brought a large number of the votes."

As for the possibility that he himself will run for the Knesset, Ben Gvir said, "I have not decided yet, I am happy in the legal world and I am doing very important things for the people of Israel, but I know that more and more people expect to see me in the Knesset. There are great challenges there and, just as I have succeeded in the legal world, I think I can succeed in politics. I am not ruling out this possibility."