Responding on Sunday morning to the news that the newly-formed Zionist Spirit party is losing two of its most prominent members, the Religious Zionism party issued a statement warning voters not to "throw their votes into the garbage" by voting for Zionist Spirit party head, Ayelet Shaked.
With just days to the final deadline for submitting party lists, Shaked, the former head of the Yamina party, has dissolved her partnership with the Derekh Eretz party consisting of Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and MK Zvi Hauser.
"Together, Shaked and Hendel were a long way off crossing the electoral threshold; now that they're running separately, it's obvious that a vote for Shaked is a vote that is thrown into the garbage, endangering the Right," the Religious Zionism party noted.
"We call on Shaked to demonstrate responsibility to the right-wing camp and to the country and to withdraw her candidature and not cause the right-wing to lose votes in what will be fateful elections that could lead to the establishment of a left-wing government that includes the Joint List party," they added. "We do not have votes to waste."
Current estimates are that Shaked will join up with the Bayit Yehudi party and make a joint run in November's elections. She has until Thursday, the day by which party lists must be submitted, to make up her mind.
Last Friday, Israel National News revealed that the Bayit Yehudi party had issued an ultimatum to Shaked, demanding that she terminate her partnership with Hendel and Hauser. Bayit Yehudi sources explained that they refuse to be used as a religious "fig-leaf" for a secular party which does not represent the religious world-view upon which their party was founded.
"We're not here to get seats in government," the party stressed. "We're here to promote the values of the Religious-Zionist community in the coming Knesset, and that is something that will be impossible to do within the current structure of the [Zionist Spirit] party with the offer being made to us by Ayelet Shaked. If we have no choice but to separate, then we will do just that and make a separate run in the elections."