Yemina - United Right candidates
Yemina - United Right candidatesKobi Richter/TPS

The Yemina party – formed by the union of the United Right and the New Right – kicked off its election campaign Monday night at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan, just hours after tensions between Yemina and the ruling Likud party escalated, amid threats by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to fire United Right minister Bezalel Smotrich.

While the Prime Minister declined to fire Smotrich, who serves as Transportation Minister, in exchange for a public apology over Smotrich’s sharp criticism Sunday and Monday of Netanyahu, the incident highlighted the increasingly visceral rhetoric the two parties have aimed at each other in recent weeks.

In an interview with 103FM Radio Tuesday morning, Yemina party chairwoman Ayelet Shaked appeared to offer an olive branch to the Likud, saying it was time for both sides to focus on building the right-wing bloc as a whole, and to refrain from attacking each other.

“We need to see how we can build up the [right-wing] bloc. That’s what we need to focus on, not fighting one another.”

The Yemina chairwoman and former Justice Minister said her party would whichever candidate on the Right stood the greatest chance of building a new government, with a lukewarm endorsement of Netanyahu, saying he was the most likely candidate at the moment.

“We are a right-wing party, in terms of values and ideology, and we will recommend a right-wing candidate for prime minister. Binyamin Netanyahu is the head of the largest right-wing party, right now.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Shaked dismissed criticism from Likud minister Miri Regev as “background noise”.

“I recommend ignoring what she says, it’s just background noise,” Shaked told Galei Tzahal – Army Radio in response to criticism by Regev.