Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the deputy defense minister and an MK for the Jewish Home party, has been named as the Jewish Home candidate who will be included on the Likud’s Knesset list for the 21st Knesset.
In Wednesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Jewish Home leaders, pressing them to accept the smaller Otzma Yehudit faction into a joint ticket, thus ensuring that the Jewish Home-National Union ticket passes the electoral threshold – and avoiding the loss of votes to a separate Otzma bid.
During the meeting, Netanyahu offered to include a Jewish Home candidate on the Likud list. The Likud chairman is permitted to select two candidates for the party list, as per the Likud constitution.
The inclusion of the Jewish Home candidate on the Likud list is intended to compensate those on the Jewish Home list pushed down by the addition of two candidates from Otzma, and entice the Jewish Home to agree to a joint ticket.
Ben-Dahan, who currently serves as an MK for the Jewish Home, first entered politics as a member of the National Union faction, but switched to the Jewish Home prior to the 2015 elections.
Under the deal with Netanyahu, Ben-Dahan will be given the 28th spot on the Likud list, considered a “safe” seat, with the Likud polling on average around 30 seats.