Shaked agrees to deal with Habayit Hayehudi
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has agreed to a deal that will see her lead right-wing party Habayit Hayehudi in the upcoming election to the Knesset, Israeli media reported early Tuesday morning.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has agreed to a deal that will see her lead right-wing party Habayit Hayehudi in the upcoming election to the Knesset, Israeli media reported early Tuesday morning.
According to the deal, signed between Shaked and Habayit Hayehudi chairman Yossi Brodny, Shaked will receive spots 1,3,5 and 6, while Habayit Hayehudi will receive spots 2,4 and 7. The party will run under the letter bet, which Yamina used for the past three elections.
"I am happy that we were able to rebuild a home for religious Zionism and the responsible Right in Israel. We will act together to form a broad, stable, right-wing government."Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked
Shaked reportedly met on Tuesday with former deputy head of the Police Investigations Unit, Moshe Sa'ada, and invited him to join her. He has yet to give an answer. Sa'ada accused former Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich and former State Attorney Shai Nitzan of covering up alleged police misconduct in order not to harm the police while it investigated former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The criticism of Alsheich and Nitzan fit Shaked's agenda of reforming Israel's legal system.
"I am happy that we were able to rebuild a home for religious Zionism and the responsible Right in Israel. We will act together to form a broad, stable, right-wing government," Shaked said.
This marks a return for Shaked to the party she left with former prime minister Naftali Bennett back in 2018 to form what would eventually become Yamina.
Earlier this week, Shaked announced she had ended the short-lived political union called "Zionist Spirit" with Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel.
Yisrael Beytenu
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman announced his party list at an event in Tel Aviv on Monday evening. The top 10 on the list are identical to the previous election, save two changes. First, renegade MK Eli Avidar was replaced by Brig. Gen. (res.) Sharon Nir, who served in her final position in the IDF as Gender Affair Advisor to the Chief of Staff. Second, lawyer Batya Kahana-Dror was inserted into the number eight spot, ahead of four current MKs.Kahana-Dror is a publicist and social activist, and is religious. She is perhaps most well known for her tenure between 2009-2018 as CEO of the nonprofit "Mavoy Satum," ("Blocked Alley" in English), which acts on behalf of (mostly) women whose husbands refuse to give them a divorce.
"Yisrael Beytenu is a home for all religious-Zionists who feel that they have no one to vote for," she said.
MK Alex Kushnir, number seven on the list, explained on Facebook, "As part of our vision, we wanted to expand the women representation in the party and that is what we did."
The top ten on the list are thus Liberman, Agriculture Minister Oded Forer, MK Evgeny Sova, Nir, MK Yulia Malinovsky, Minister in the Finance Ministry Hamed Amer, Kushnir, Kahana-Dror, MK Prof. Yossi Shain and MK lawyer Limor Magen Telem.
The party has received between five and six seats in nearly every poll so far, but MKs further down on the list could still remain in the Knesset if Yisrael Beytenu receives ministerial positions and its ministers resign under the Norwegian Law, like it did in the current government.
Joint List
The Joint List remains split between Balad and Hadash on one hand, and Ta'al on the other. The first two, led by MK Sami Abou Shahadeh and MK Ayman Odeh, reached an agreement on Friday evening that included a pledge not to recommend or join any coalition of Zionist parties unless they are given a number of assurances, including a written statement vowing to "end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state next to Israel."Ta'al reportedly was not willing to commit to all of the clauses in the agreement. Hadash and Balad also reserved only one spot for Ta'al in the top six, while Ta'al is demanding two.
The sides are engaged in negotiations and are expected to reach an agreement for a joint run by the deadline on Thursday.
Yesh Atid
Yesh Atid also announced its list, at an event on Tuesday evening. The top ten on the list remained identical to its current makeup: Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Economy Minister Orna Barbivay, Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Minister Meir Cohen, Energy Minister Karin Elharrar, Social Equality and Pensioners Minister Meirav Cohen, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov, Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern, Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy, Knesset Public Security Committee chair Merav Ben Ari and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Ram Ben Barak.Likud
The Likud will convene its secretariat on Wednesday afternoon to affirm party leader Benjamin Netanyahu's choices for the spots reserved for him on the party list.There are three spots reserved for Netanyahu on the list that have a realistic chance of making it into the Knesset: 14,16 and 27. The choices have not been announced yet. Two of them are expected to be former Yamina MKs Amichai Chikli and Idit Silman, and the third may be Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch.
Religious Zionist Party (RZP)
RZP announced on Tuesday that party leader MK Bezalel Smotrich met with Noam party leader MK Avi Maoz and offered him the 11th spot on the list. Maoz said he will confer with the party's rabbis before giving an answer. RZP received 11 seats in a poll on Tuesday, so the spot is considered realistic. Five out of the top ten spots are reserved for RZP – including Smotrich and MKs Ofir Sofer, Orit Struk, Simcha Rothman and Michal Woldiger. The other five will be filled by MK Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit faction, and will include Ben Gvir, party CEO Yizhak Wasserlauf, Almog Cohen, Brig. Gen. (res.) Zvika Fogel and settler leader Limor Sivan Har-Melech.
