Right-wing parties unite under Shaked
New Right leader to take top spot on joint list with Jewish Home, whose chair gets no. 2 slot; National Union head gets third place and Bennett is fourth on list of candidates for September elections
The top spot on the list will go to New Right leader Ayelet Shaked, with her party co-founder Naftali Bennett taking the fourth slot.
Jewish Home chair Rafi Peretz has been given the second spot and National Union head Bezalel Smotrich is third on the list of candidates.
The agreement does not currently include the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and Zehut (Identity) parties.
The parties agreed that during coalition negotiations after the elections, they would demand the passage of the so-called "Norwegian law" that enables Knesset members who are appointed as ministers to resign their seats and hand them over to other candidates on the party list.
Peretz was also granted a request for the leadership of the United Right to conduct joint coalition negotiations with the Likud chair, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the elections with the aim of supporting him as the party leader tasked with forming the next government.
"This is wonderful news for the right-wing bloc," Shaked said Monday. "Weeks of effort have now borne fruit. We have united the right-wing parties for a joint (Knesset) run to ensure that costly votes are not taken away."
Shaked was referring to the votes cast for right-wing parties, such as for her own New Right, which were "lost" when those parties failed to pass the threshold to enter the Knesset.
Jewish House chair Rafi Peretz also praised the union, saying that, "we have safeguarded proper representation for religious Zionism on the joint list. Those who run together, win together. We are on our way."
Prime Minister Netanyahu has in recent days been pressing for the New Right and Jewish Home to run separately, and for Peretz to refuse to cede his position as party leader to Shaked.
On Sunday, the Israeli media even reported that Peretz' wife, Michal, recently exerted heavy pressure on her husband to maintain his leadership position.
