As in past elections, Netanyahu, anxious to avoid votes going to waste, pushed alliance that could see disciple of racist rabbi elected; slate includes anti-LGBT Noam party
3 February 2021
A day before final electoral slates must be presented, the far-right Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties announced on Wednesday that they had signed a merger agreement to run jointly in the upcoming election.
The alliance will also include the anti-LGBT Noam party.
The merger, agreed upon by Religious Zionism party leader MK Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit chair Itamar Ben Gvir, was reportedly brokered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself in an effort to prevent either or both of the satellite parties from failing to pass the electoral threshold and wasting right-wing votes.
Ben Gvir will be third on the merged slate, meaning he will win a seat in the Knesset if the merged ticket clears the 3.25% Knesset threshold.
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