Now that Religious Zionism chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir have agreed on a joint run in the upcoming Knesset elections, the question arises: will the two only agree to sit in a government headed by Benyamin Netanyahu or are there are other options on the table.
Political commentator Mati Tuchfeld claims in an article in Israel Hayom that since the Religious Zionism party has educational institutions, youth movements, Kibbutzes, and Torah centers, its heads will not be willing to sit in the opposition, even if Netanyahu chooses to sacrifice Otzma Yehudit so he can form a government with Benny Gantz.
According to Tuchfeld, although they will publicly demand the formation of a government based on the right-wing bloc, they won't set an ultimatum or announce that they won't join without Ben Gvir.
"Ben-Gvir doesn't have any institutions to care for", a senior source in the Religious Zionism party said. "You don't need government funding to yell at Arabs and set up an office in the Shimon Ha'tzadik neighborhood. We prefer a right-wing government, but Gantz isn't completely ruled out."
As previously reported the two agreed on a joint run in which Smotrich will lead the list and each party will receive five of the first ten spots on the list.
About a day after the two parties signed the agreement on a joint run, under the behest of Netanyahu, the political commentator Amit Segal explained why there was no picture of the two signing the agreement: Netanyahu, who presided over the meeting, did not want to be photographed with Itamar Ben Gvir.
"On Friday Smotrich and Ben Gvir came to the smart decision not to run separately. Smotrich is disgusted by Ben Gvir's style and sees him as a fake, Ben Gvir sees Smotrich as condescending and believes he alienates voters," Segal wrote on Saturday night.
"Benyamin Netanyahu, the matchmaker, preferred not to be photographed with the happy couple. The three know very well as to why: Netanyahu does not want to have his picture taken with Ben-Gvir. One of the reasons that he pushed for the union was to not waste votes on a party that won't pass the threshold, but the less talked about reason is the fact that the Likud chair does not want to find himself with a huge Ben-Gvir party that will make foreign relations more difficult for his government".
