Netanyahu and Smotrich Launch Joint Campaign Without Ben-Gvir

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leaders of the Likud and Religious Zionism parties respectively, have signed a surplus vote agreement and are launching a joint campaign titled "Saving the Right." The initiative aims to mobilize approximately 200,000 potential right-wing voters who are not expected to vote otherwise. The campaign will involve extensive volunteer efforts, including door-to-door outreach in strategic locations, assistance for voters unable to reach polling stations, and key community figures encouraging voting. This move excludes Itamar Ben-Gvir, chairman of Otzma Yehudit, who faced sharp criticism from former Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. Yosef accused Ben-Gvir of making empty promises to youth and disregarding the opinions of senior rabbis by ascending the Temple Mount.

Meanwhile, Yoaz Hendel, chairman of the Economic Reservists party, called on Ofer Winter, chairman of Am Israel, to sign a surplus vote agreement and withdraw his commitment to join a potential Netanyahu-Haredi government. Hendel argued that governments dependent on non-Zionist parties, whether Haredi or Arab, are forced to make non-Zionist decisions. He specifically criticized the Haredi parties for encouraging draft evasion and harming national security, stating that such parties cannot win on the battlefield or fulfill front-line missions. Hendel proposed that the Zionist forces, including his party and Winter's, should cooperate to form a Zionist government and act as a bloc against non-Zionist coalitions.