It seems there is a competition underway on the sidelines of the Left and Right to see who is the least interested in joining forces with another party. At this stage, it seems the Left is in the lead. There will be no significant alliances to speak of on the Left. Every party will need to fend for itself in the struggle to pass the electoral threshold. A majority of the public is not at all interested in the issue because the chances of the left-wing parties taking part in the next government, regardless of the election outcome, are negligible. Although the way things look, things don't look much better on the Right, where, as usual, things are interesting and highly complex as a result of a combination of ideology and interests.
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My suggestion to New Right party leader Ayelet Shaked? Don't take the applause, or the polls, too seriously. They are only indicative of passing interest. I have no doubt that if it runs on its own, the New Right will not pass the electoral threshold. The game of political chess now playing out between Shaked and the man now in the party's No.2 slot, Naftali Bennett, is of no real electoral significance. Learning from past mistakes means not making the same mistake again. The New Right will necessarily garner fewer votes this time around because intelligent people do not risk throwing their ballot away twice.
It is my hope that Shaked moves toward creating a joint technical bloc of all the parties to the right of the Likud, including the far-Right Otzma Yehudit. In my opinion, such a bloc will likely be established within 10 days, because otherwise the Right will be swallowed up by a black hole. If, following the split on the Right, a left-wing government is established after the election under the auspices of Yisrael Beytenu's Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing candidates will have only themselves to blame. Shaked must head the bloc because, from a logical political analysis, she has the greatest chance of bringing in new voters.
It is very difficult to define just who is "Zionist religious." This is a diverse sector that includes Zionist haredim, national religious, the formerly religious, the sometimes religious and of course, the self-professed religious. A review of the sector's media outlets indicates many of its members believe there is nothing wrong with having a secular woman head the right-wing bloc. When it comes to a technical bloc, the Zionist haredim can simply vote for their candidates on the list.
The principal condition for the bloc's success is that Shaked and Bennett do not get lured into vying against the Likud for a pool of votes, and as a result, afford the Blue and White party the opportunity to form a left-wing government. This fear stems from statements on the content they want to emphasize in their election campaign, a former brotherly alliance with Blue and White's Yair Lapid, and their having avoided committing to supporting Netanyahu be the leaders tasked with forming the government. It is my hope that political wisdom will prevail, as the struggle they are waging against the Likud in the hope of rising in the ranks will cause both parties significant damage in the future. This is a futile aspiration for a sectorial party, to be sure.
