Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir said his party was willing to rejoin the United Right for another Knesset run – but not under the same conditions the party agreed to for the previous election in April.
Speaking 103FM Wednesday, Ben-Gvir said Otzma had been treated unfairly during its alliance with the United Right.
Otzma was allotted the fifth and eight spots on the joint list in the April election. Prior to the vote, however, the Supreme Court barred the candidacy of former MK Michael Ben-Ari, Otzma’s candidate in the fifth slot.
When the joint ticket ended up winning five seats in April, the fifth seat went to Jewish Home candidate Idit Silman, rather than the remaining Otzma candidate, Ben-Gvir, who was pushed up from eight to seventh on the list after Ben-Ari’s removal.
Ben-Gvir said Wednesday that his party had brought the United Right roughly half of its voters, citing internal polls reportedly mentioned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his talks with United Right officials.
“This time, the rules are totally, totally different. They know all too well that in every poll, every statistical analysis, that we brought then two and a half seats. The Prime Minister…even said that’s what the internal Likud polls found…that we’re worth more than two and a half seats.”
“With all of my disagreements with Netanyahu about policies, there’s one thing that can’t be denied – he’s a genius when it comes to numbers.”
“I think that Ayelet Shaked also understands the importance of [unity]… and she knows how much we’re worth.”
If the United Right runs without the New Right, said Ben-Gvir, Otzma will demand every third seat on the list – the third slot, sixth, ninth, twelfth, and so on, calling the demand “very modest”.
Should the United Right run with the New Right, however, Ben-Gvir says Otzma would be willing to accept two spots in the top ten, including one in the top five. “The fourth spot and the eighth or ninth spot,” Ben-Gvir said.