Ben Gvir Renews Push to Unite the Far-right with Smotrich

By Staff, Agencies

Itamar Ben Gvir, chairman of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, showered his former ally, far-right Religious Zionism party head Bezalel Smotrich, with compliments Wednesday morning in an attempt to secure a unity deal that would see the two running jointly for November’s elections.

Ben Gvir’s comments came after opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu called for smaller right-wing parties to run on a shared ticket in the election to ensure votes aren’t wasted on parties that don’t clear the electoral threshold.

Otzma Yehudit ran together with Religious Zionist in last year’s election in a deal brokered by Netanyahu, who was subjected to sharp criticism over the move for granting legitimacy to Ben Gvir, a disciple of the racist rabbi Meir Kahane, and other extremist candidates.

So far, this time around, the pair have been unable to agree on a unity deal, with Ben Gvir seeking an equal share of seats within the alliance, something Smotrich has refused to grant.

Polls have indicated that a unified party would receive between 10 and 13 seats in the coming Knesset, a significant upgrade from its current six seats.