Smotrich and Feiglin Advance Talks for Technical Bloc Alliance Ahead of Elections

Ahead of the upcoming Israeli elections, Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, is engaged in advanced negotiations with Moshe Feiglin's Zehut party to run together in a technical bloc. Feiglin is expected to receive the realistic second spot on the joint list, as well as the eighth and tenth positions, although these details have not been finalized. Zehut, which previously ran in 2019 and narrowly missed the electoral threshold with about 3% of the vote, currently polls around 1%, justifying the reserved spots for Feiglin.

The main goal of this alliance is to ensure both parties surpass the electoral threshold, especially after the entry of Ofer Winter into the race, which has weakened Religious Zionism's standing in most polls, placing it below the threshold. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not directly involved in these talks but has expressed general support after hearing about them.

Separately, Netanyahu invited Itamar Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to a meeting on Sunday to discuss unity following a public dispute between the two. However, Otzma Yehudit, Ben-Gvir's party, issued a firm statement rejecting any joint run with Religious Zionism, calling the decision final and refusing any talks or meetings on the matter. Otzma Yehudit urged Netanyahu to pursue either a full merger of smaller right-wing factions or to use reserved spots within Likud for Smotrich to secure a right-wing victory and form a genuine right-wing government.