Zeut Party Explains Alliance with Smotrich Ahead of Knesset Elections

The Zeut party, led by Moshe Feiglin, and the Religious Zionism party, headed by Bezalel Smotrich, will run in the Knesset elections on a joint technical list, with Feiglin securing the second position. Arkady Mutter, a candidate for Zeut, clarified in an interview that this is not a merger of the parties, as each will retain its independent platform. The primary objective of this agreement, he stated, is to mitigate the risk of losing votes from right-wing parties that might fall short of the electoral threshold.

Mutter recalled that Zeut had spent the past year urging potential partners, including Itamar Ben-Gvir and former IDF Brigadier General Ofer Winter, to form a technical bloc. Winter ultimately decided to run independently with his party, "Amcha Israel," while the joint list of Smotrich and Feiglin was officially submitted before the October 27 elections. Winter registered his separate list subsequently.

"The nature of a technical bloc is simple: we unite for one goal, to pass the electoral threshold and not risk votes," Mutter explained. He emphasized that this issue is particularly significant for Zeut following the previous election cycle. In the April 2019 elections, Zeut garnered 118,031 votes, or 2.7%, failing to clear Israel's 3.25% electoral barrier. With 4.309 million valid ballots cast, approximately 140,000 votes were needed to enter the Knesset.