Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedRoy Alima/Flash90

Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is pushing for the formation of a broad alliance of right-wing parties ahead of the September 17th election, Walla! reported Tuesday, including her own New Right faction, the Jewish Home, National Union, and potentially the Otzma Yehudit party.

According to the report, Shaked, who met Monday evening with former Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a longtime ally, discussed not only her future in the New Right party, but also the possibility of forming a technical bloc of all parties to the right of the Likud, ensuring they enter the 22nd Knesset.

In the April 9th election, both the New Right and Zehut parties failed to clear the 3.25% threshold, while a joint list of the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit won five seats.

Polls show that a broad alliance of right-wing parties could net as many as 19 seats.

But with less than a month until the August 1st deadline for registering Knesset lists, the effort to form even a temporary union on the Right has failed, largely due to strong opposition within the Jewish Home to the return of New Right chief Naftali Bennett.

Bennett and Shaked, who bolted from the Jewish Home in December 2018 to form the New Right, drew intense criticism from party officials, who accused them of damaging the Jewish Home.

The Jewish Home has reportedly offered Shaked the number two spot on the United Right ticket, along with promises to secure for her the Justice Ministry in the next government, along with an additional seat for an ally in the sixth or seventh slot, should she choose to form a new faction.

But Jewish Home officials refused to include Shaked’s ally, Bennett, in the list, or the New Right party, leading to a deadlock in negotiations.

Yisrael Beytenu chief Avidgor Liberman, who following the April elections suggested Shaked may run with his party, said this week that he would still consider the possibility of including Shaked in the Yisrael Beytenu list.

But sources close to Shaked say such a move “is not an option”.