Financial Maneuver to Boost Party Funding Could Backfire on Religious Zionism

The funding maneuver that could complicate the Religious Zionism party. While everyone thinks three Knesset members are needed to split a faction, it may be that two are enough. To explain this, it is first necessary to provide some background: only parties that form a slate can run for the Knesset. After the Knesset election, the slate is represented by a faction, which is the official body. A party requires a great deal of bureaucracy, registration with the Party Registrar and a wait for approval. Therefore, in recent years, "shelf parties" that no longer take part in elections have been selling the legal entity known as a "party" to politicians who want to run for the Knesset. That is how the Noam party bought the party "Lezuz." Bennett and Shaked bought Prizki's "Lezuz" party and ran with it in the New Right and Yamina.

One list, 3 factions, 5 parties. Let us go back four years. When the lists were submitted for the 25th Knesset, Smotrich and Ben Gvir submitted a joint list made up of five different parties. Ben Gvir and the other members of Otzma Yehudit ran on behalf of the National Jewish Front party. Itzhak Wasserlauf ran on behalf of the Our Land of Israel party. In Religious Zionism as well, Smotrich and the other members ran on behalf of the National Union, Tkuma party, while Strock ran on behalf of the party "One Future." Avi Maoz of the Noam party ran on behalf of the party "Lezuz." Immediately after the election, the three parties split into separate factions. Six members remained Religious Zionism. Six Otzma Yehudit members were separate, and Avi Maoz as a one-member faction, Noam. Smotrich and Almog Cohen (in red) resigned under the Norwegian law and are not Knesset members. And this is what remains today of the list for the 25th Knesset, Religious Zionism's list for the 25th Knesset (photo from the Central Elections Committee).

The reason for running as two different parties was for party funding purposes. Under the law, parties are entitled to a budget for elections, known as "party funding," and ongoing funding during the term. The key to the funding is determined by the number of Knesset members. The funding itself is worth about one million shekels a year for each MK, but the regulations include a clause that effectively grants a party with one mandate additional funding, almost double. This, among other reasons, is why Strock ran as a separate party from Religious Zionism and Wasserlauf ran as a separate party from Otzma Yehudit, and neither resigned under the Norwegian law (Amichai Eliyahu resigned and then Almog Cohen). In the end, Religious Zionism has 6 Knesset members from the National Union party and 1 from another party.

The financial trick may boomerang, but now it could also make it easier to dismantle Religious Zionism. Yesterday, MK Moshe Solomon was removed from all the committees in the Knesset on which he had served, because he violated factional discipline and voted against the Basic Law on Torah Study. Since the removal, Solomon has understood that his path in Religious Zionism is over, and he is talking about running under another framework. The name Ofer Winter, who is warming up on the sidelines, is apparently the more likely option.

And now to the numbers: under Knesset regulations, an MK who wants to run for the Knesset under a separate framework must resign from the Knesset or split off. Splitting a faction is possible if one third of the faction's members submit such a request. In the case of seven Knesset members, three MKs are required, a number that is difficult to obtain in Religious Zionism's current state. However, the Knesset legal adviser may determine that Religious Zionism is a faction of 6 MKs plus 1. In other words, the six representatives of the National Union party are separate from the representative of the party "One Future." If a one-member faction receives separate funding, it will also be considered separate for the purpose of splitting the faction. Solomon will need one more member to split the faction. At present, Solomon will need only one more disappointed member to submit a request to the Knesset Committee and split the faction, with a third of two MKs.

It should be noted that the polls put Religious Zionism on the threshold of the electoral cutoff. In an optimistic scenario, it receives 4 MKs, and perhaps 5 in especially flattering polls. The realistic slots among those five are already taken: Smotrich is the chairman. One slot has already been promised to Tzvika Mor. Strock is highly regarded by Smotrich, and also by the central members, and will apparently be in. Smotrich has one more reserved slot in the top five. Solomon will probably be left out. That means there is only one arguably realistic spot left for the other five incumbent MKs: Ofir Sofer, Ohad Tal, Michal Waldiger, Simcha Rothman and Tzvi Sukkot.

Now, it is enough for one of them to feel that his place is not guaranteed, join Solomon, and the two of them could split the faction and receive, as part of the deal, about two million shekels in party funding. That sum could enable them to secure a slot on Ben Gvir's list, on Winter's list, or even with Yoaz Hendel and Moshe Feiglin. For the benefit of Religious Zionism members reading the article and wondering: the first two MKs who leave will do so relatively easily. The four MKs who remain will again need two MKs to split. By contrast, a third MK who joins the first two will make it even easier for them to split the faction and will also be able to split off himself from the split as a one-member faction, on the way to a reserved slot on another list. Solomon needs just one more disappointed member to split off (Haim Goldberg/Flash90).