Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s support for a united ticket spanning the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit factions was intended to block a post-election alliance between the Jewish Home and the New Right, sources within the Likud said Monday morning.
According to a report by Yediot Ahronot, unnamed senior officials within the Likud have claimed that while the Prime Minister is primarily occupied with overcoming the lead in the polls enjoyed by the newly-formed Blue and White party of Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s second concern in the election is the possibility that a powerful alliance of factions to his right could limit his options in the next government.
While former Jewish Home chief Naftali Bennett abruptly left the party to form the New Right, Bennett has called for an alliance with his former party following the April 9th elections to form a large bloc to the right of the Likud.
The New Right, Jewish Home-National Union alliance would then have broad bargaining powers during coalition talks with the Likud, and would be better positioned to block the inclusion of left-wing or center-left factions in the government.
The Likud officials cited by the Yediot report Monday morning claim that Netanyahu has been working actively to neutralize the New Right, and to prevent it from forming an alliance with the Jewish Home after the elections.
Some of the officials even claimed that the Prime Minister’s support for a joint ticket of the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit was intended to form a smaller alternative alliance on the right, thus reducing the chances of a post-election union between the Jewish Home and the New Right.