The New Right and National Union parties announced Tuesday that they will be running on a joint ticket in the upcoming general elections.
The news came soon after National Union leader MK Bezalel Smotrich said that his party is "unlikely" to run on a joint slate with Habayit Hayehudi in the March 2 elections.
New Right leader Naftali Bennett and Smotrich both called on Habayit Hayehudi leader Rabbi Rafi Peretz to join their alliance.
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The new ticket will place the parties "on equal footing," and remain open to future alliances with Habayit Hayehudi, a National Union source said. At this time, however, far-right party Otzma Yehudit has not been invited to join the list.
"We took a significant step this morning in joining the New Right and, God willing, we'll complete a full union with Habayit Hayehudi," Smotrich said in a joint statement from the parties.
"It's a big day. We have been led to great unity in the ideological right and religious Zionism – from traditional to ultra-Orthodox, from knitted kippa to bare heads, from Tel Aviv to ancient times. I call on my friend Rabbi Rafi to join us immediately in one united party for the victory of the national camp," Bennett said.
New Right co-founder MK Ayelet Shaked also welcomed the merger, saying, "I welcome the link with the National Union. Bezalel Smotrich is a partner and friend. The two parties' joining forces unites the ideological streams of religious and ideological secularism and ensures that a stable right-wing government is formed.
"I urge Habayit Hayehudi to join us," she said.
Political musical chairs
The smaller right-wing parties have been struggling to find their footing in the political chaos that has followed the April 2019 general elections.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party won the elections but he was unable to form a government. The snap elections held on Sept. 17 gave Likud a razor-thin victory, but Netanyahu was again unable to secure a coalition. Challenger Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was also unable to form a government, and for the first time in Israel's history, another vote was called for March 2 – the third consecutive election campaign in one year.
Fearing that they will fail to meet the requisite four-Knesset-seat electoral threshold of 3.25%, the smaller right-wing parties, namely Habayit Hayehudi, National Union, New Right, and far-right Otzma Yehudit, attempted to form various joint tickets, none of which proved stable.
Ahead of the Sept. 17 elections, Habayit Hayehudi, National Union and the New Right united on a list they named Yamina ("Rightward"), winning seven parliamentary seats. Otzma Yehudit, which opted for an independent bid, did not pass the electoral threshold.
Earlier Tuesday, after talks between Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union failed, the latter said in a statement that its merger agreement with Habayit Hayehudi was initially supposed to include a clause by which the parties would also merge their respective central committees into one governing body, effectively becoming one political entity, rather than a faction comprising two separate parties.
National Union walked away from the negotiations when Habayit Hayehudi leader Rafi Peretz refused to push that clause through.
"In the absence of anchoring the merger process with this [clause], it is clear that the deal is not worth the paper it's written on and that the entire basis for the merger has been rendered void," the statement said.
"As this [the merger with Habayit Hayehudi is no longer possible, the National Union will be rethinking its next steps."
A statement by Habayit Hayehudi claimed it had not gone back on the deal and remained ready to seal it immediately.
The national-religious party criticized its counterpart, calling Smotrich's tactics "irresponsible and detrimental for the right-wing camp.
"There are no differences of opinion and the deal can be finalized right now, it's just a matter of being willing to do so. The national-religious public expect us to achieve unity and we will continue to pursue it," Habayit Hayehudi's statement said.
Also on Monday, a Channel 12 News poll predicted that the March elections will not resolve the political gridlock Israel has been facing over the past year.
The poll projected Blue and White will win 34 Knesset seats, besting Likud's 31.
The Joint Arab List could potentially win 13 seats, followed by Labor-Meretz (9), Shas (8), United Torah Judaism (7), Yisrael Beytenu (7), New Right (6) and the United Right (5).
Asked who they believe is more suited for the role of the prime minister, 39% of the respondents named Netanyahu and 39% chose Gantz, while the rest were undecided or named other candidates.
