Religious Zionist Party Chairman Minister Bezalel Smotrich held a one-on-one meeting this week with Rabbinical Court Judge and IDF reservist Rabbi Avi Zarbiv.
The political pundit, Amit Segal, reported that Smotrich offered Zarbiv the second place on the party's list. The move is intended to bring fresh blood into the party and to appeal to a wider public.
Rabbi Zarbiv gained fame among combat reservists and the Israeli public in general during the war, serving long deployments as a D9 bulldozer operator. His work demolishing buildings in Gaza, as well as his videos of him performing various religious rites and sending inspirational messages on the battlefield, have made him especially admired by religious Zionists and right-wingers who wish to see a Jewish return to the Gaza Strip.
On Israeli Independence Day, Rabbi Zarbiv was selected to light a torch at the opening ceremony on Mount Herzl.
The move to bring Zarbiv to the party is part of Smotrich's attempts to add prominent figures from the war era to his list, as several parties have already done. Last month, the party announced the addition of Dr. Tzvika Mor, one of the heads of the Tikva Forum and the father of captivity survivor Eitan Mor. Mor is also expected to be assigned a high spot in the party's list.