Political deal could put Otzma Yehudit member on Judicial Selection Committee
Publication by Central Elections Committee of agreements between parties running together in the April elections shows that Jewish Home-National Union will seek to place either Itamar Ben-Gvir or Michael Ben-Ari as opposition member of panel to pick judges, should they secure a Knesset seat.
Election maneuvering could see a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) sit on the Judicial Selection Committee in the next Knesset. Jewish Home-National Union has agreed to place either Itamar Ben-Gvir or Michael Ben-Ari - if they are elected to the Knesset - as an opposition representative on the panel that selects the country's judges, according to information published on the Central Elections Committee website on Tuesday.
Central Elections Committee Chairman Hanan Meltzer, who also serves as deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court, instructed the panel to publish all agreements between parties running together in the upcoming elections on the committee' official website, following an appeal by attorney Shahar Ben-Meir.
Jewish Home-National Union and Otzma Yehudit have agreed to run togther in the April 9 elections, but that agreement will be ended immediately after Election Day, thereby allowing any MKs that the latter receives to join the opposition.
The Otzma Yehudit Party is the latest incarnation of the Jewish National Front, a party that was established ahead of the 2006 elections, but its roots are in the Kach movement, which Kahane established in the 1970s.
Otzma Yehudit will set up an independent election headquarters, with its campaign coordinated with joint Jewish Home-National Union's election headquarters.
In addition, intra-party agreements involving the ruling Likud party, Moshe Feiglin's Zehut party, Arab parties Balad, Hadash, Ra'am and Ta'al, the United Torah Judaism party, the Blue and White party (Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz's joint endeavor) were also published, with both Zehut and Otzma Yehudit opposing the move.
"Out of a sense of responsibility for the Jewish people, the State of Israel and the Torah, and in order not to lose right-wing votes, the joint Jewish Home-National Union party and the Otzma Yehudit party will run under a joint list in a technical bloc (which means the agreement between the two parties will be broken off immediately after Election Day) to maximize the votes of the public supporting the Torah, the people and the land," states the agreement Jewish Home-National Union and Otzma Yehudit.
Meanwhile, Likud and the right-wing national-religious Ahi party also agreed to run together, in order to fend off appeals against Ahi leader Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan securing the 28 spot on the Likud list. He too will split from Likud after the elections.
