Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Jewish Home leader and Minister of Heritage & Jerusalem Affairs MK Rabbi Rafi Peretz to urge him to join lists with other right-wing parties. According to Kan 11, Netanyahu told Peretz, "Join with Bennett and Smotrich, don't give up."
Benny Gantz, Minister of Defence and head of the Blue and White party, has recently mentioned to members of his party that he is considering a joint ticket with the Yamina party n the upcoming Knesset elections. According to Channel 12, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett is not immediately ruling out such a possibility.
Former Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn claimed that this was actually one of the main driving factors behind his departure from Blue and White
Blue and White responded in a statement: "This is patently false. Gantz is not considering joining Yamina. There have been altogether too many lies and inventions already; politicians need to start focusing on running the country and not on spin-doctoring."
The Likud responded in a statement: "Gantz wants to run with Bennett, Ehud Barak claims that Sa'ar has joined him on the left, and neither can form a government without left-wing parties. Only the Likud can form a wholly right-wing government."
Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu party, and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party, meanwhile, announced a 'surplus votes' agreement on Monday night as part of the lead-up to the race for the 24th Knesset. Yamina and Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party have formulated a similar agreement.
A 'surplus votes' agreement is an agreement between two electoral parties stipulating that their votes will be counted together to determine the number of seats allotted between the two parties, to be divided later according to the relative size of each signatory party.
Jewish Home reported that it had been discussing a joint ticket with Yamina as of noon today.
"We are negotiating with Yamina with the hope of reunifying the religious Zionist vote. Our negotiations with Bennett are being conducted in good faith and with the mutual intention of working for the State of Israel, the People of Israel, and the Torah of Israel. We hope to formalize our agreement shortly," the party said in a statement.
MK Rabbi Rafi Peretz said, " I am happy to hear of the negotiations with Yamina and former Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett. As I have always said, we need to unify the right-wing vote. There is no room for schisms. I hope to hear news very soon.
Neither Yamina nor the National Union has responded to these remarks for the time being.