Transportation Minister and National Union chairman Bezalel Smotrich denied reports that the Union of Right-Wing Parties will merge with Otzma Yehudit rather than the New Right on the urging of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Kan News journalist Ze'ev Kam reported on Thursday that "senior right-wing officials in the Union of Right-Wing Parties claim that Netanyahu promised Peretz and Smotrich a generous plan in exchange for a merger with Otzma Yehudit without the New Right. The two would remain the education and transportation ministers, both will be in the cabinet, and Ben-Gvir will receive a position such as deputy minister or chairman of a committee."
Smotrich responded to Kam's report on Twitter on Friday morning, writing, "Hello Ze'ev. I would be happy to know who these senior officials are? Of course, I'm not a senior official so maybe it doesn't count, but I'm not familiar with this."
"There's no way in the world that we won't join together with the New Right. This would be an irresponsible risk to the state of Israel and I'm convinced that both Netanyahu and our partners in Jewish Home understand this, as well as the New Right," Smotrich concluded.
According to a Kan News poll published on Thursday night, the Likud and Blue and White would each lose one seat if the right-wing parties unite under the leadership of Ayelet Shaked, with Likud winning 29 seats. The entire right-wing bloc to the right of the Likud would receive 15 seats, which is two more seats than if each party would run separately.
One of the mandates comes at Liberman's expense, with Yisrael Beyteinu falling to eight seats. The left-wing bloc would receive 14 Knesset seats according to the poll, but at the expense of Blue and White. If the mergers indeed happen, the right-wing bloc will rise to 59 seats, compared to 53 for the left-wing bloc.