The Moledet party, having been pushed down to position #17 in the Jewish Home, has joined up with MK Aryeh Eldad's HaTikvah party.
Moledet was one of the National Union parties (the others were Tekumah and Achi) that joined up recently with the National Religious Party (NRP) to form the unified Jewish Home party. However, after Achi's two MKs left, and with Zevulun Orlev of the NRP and Uri Ariel of Tekumah placed in slots #2 and #3 in the Jewish Home, Moledet was the only one of the founding parties to be left high and dry. Its only representative on the list, party head Benny Elon, was placed in the far-down #17 slot.
As a result, Elon - a four-term Knesset Member - has announced his retirement from politics, and the Moledet party has announced that it will run in the coming elections together with MK Aryeh Eldad's HaTivkah party. Eldad himself was a member of Moledet until recently.
The Moledet secretariat will convene and choose the party's candidates for the joint list. Uri Bank of Jerusalem, who was a candidate for a spot on the Jewish Home list, will now be a leading candidate to run with HaTikvah.
Four-Way Merger Possible
High-ranking Moledet officials said there exists a significant possibility that the Moledet-HaTikvah list will join up with the Our Land of Israel party, headed by Baruch Marzel of the Jewish Front and Rabbi Dov Wolpe. Pro-Land of Israel supporters, many of whom are disappointed by the center-tilt of the Jewish Home, are hoping for this four-way merger, to prevent fragmentation of the pro-Land of Israel vote.
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