Religious Zionist and Identity Parties Unite Ahead of Elections

Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party and current Finance Minister, and Moshe Feiglin, chairman of the Identity Party, are set to sign an agreement to run on a joint slate in the upcoming elections. The deal allocates the second, eighth, tenth, and eleventh spots on the list to Feiglin's party. This union follows earlier reports of advanced negotiations between the two parties, aiming to ensure they cross the electoral threshold. Smotrich reportedly cut short a tour in southern Israel due to this "significant political development" and returned to his party's headquarters.

Following their merger, the parties will attempt to recruit Ofer Winter, who recently launched his own political movement, "Am Yisrael," to join their joint list. The agreement reportedly reserves top-ten positions for Winter and his associates, including Yosef Haddad and Lali Derai. This move comes as recent polls indicate that both parties, running separately, would fall below the electoral threshold.

A Channel 12 poll released Tuesday showed that a unified Religious Zionist-Identity party would garner five Knesset seats, while Winter's party, if it ran alone, would not pass the threshold. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not privy to the details of the merger talks but reportedly supported the initiative in principle.