MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) says new elections are closer than thought, and that the Knesset’s two national-religious parties must unite beforehand. Both parties are headed by freshman Knesset Members: The National Union, with four MKs, by Ketzaleh, and the 3-MK Jewish Home – the successor to the National Religious Party – is led by Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz.
The Jewish Home is a member of the coalition, and Hershkovitz is Minister of Science. The National Union conducted coalition negotiations with the Likud, but was not invited into the government by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, most likely because of the National Union’s more hard-line stance on Land of Israel issues.
Katz met on Wednesday evening with National Union activists in the Knesset, and told them, “Like in the Israel Defense Forces, the first thing we have to do is to define the objective.”
The central objective as we approach the next Knesset elections, he said, “is to unite with the Jewish Home and grow into a party that has 15 Knesset Members and will be the determining factor in forming a government coalition.”
“I meet frequently with Minister Hershkovitz,” Katz said, “and with MKs Orlev and Orbach, and with Nissan Slomiansky [slated to enter the Knesset in the near future, in place of Herskovitz, if a law is passed ensuring that the latter can return to the Knesset if he leaves the Cabinet – ed.], and we discuss this matter.”
“What we have to do,” he said, “is to formulate an agreement wherein each party retains its own character, but seeks the support of the entire public together… If Netanyahu was able to grow from 12 seats to 27, then we can grow fro 7 to 15.”
Katz explained why he believes elections are closer than popularly thought: “Netanyahu has given up the main asset for which he was elected – the Land of Isael. He has essentially declared publicly that everything he promised before the elections was nothing but a lie. He told us, ‘It’s either Bibi [Netanyahu] or Tzipi [Livni of Kadima], but in the end, he brought us to ‘either Tzipi or Tzipi.’ It’s just a matter of time before he gives up on Jerusalem as well, and this will lead to new elections.”
The two parties attempted to unite before the previous elections, but the venture did not work. Four of the top six candidates chosen to head the united list were identified with the NRP side, only one incumbent National Union MK (Uri Ariel) was chosen to the top 10, and the National Union camp did not feel that the list would take a sufficiently strong stance on Land of Israel matters.
When Ariel resigned from the united list, the National Union quickly regrouped, choosing Katz as its leader, followed by then-MKs Ariel and Aryeh Eldad, and Jewish Front representative Dr. Michael Ben-Ari.