Feiglin denies deal reached with Netanyahu, says Zehut party running ‘full steam ahead’ for Knesset

Feiglin says any decision which would significantly change the party’s platform or any commitment he has made would first be brought to the membership for a vote.

By World Israel News Staff  

The Zehut party headed by former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin is scheduled to hold an election rally in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, despite reports that he had reached an agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull his party out of the race for the September 17 Knesset ballot in exchange for receiving a senior ministerial position in the government.

“No agreement has been signed,” Feiglin said on Facebook.

He said that the party is organizing to move “full steam ahead” toward getting elected to the Israeli parliament.

Feiglin acknowledged that he is under “heavy pressure” to withdraw amid criticism on the right that he risks wasting right-wing votes if he does not receive the minimum 3.25 percent of the popular vote to enter the Knesset. Parties can reach a “leftover vote” agreement with one another to help one of them gain an extra seat, but it applies only to factions which enter the Knesset.

Netanyahu has repeatedly urged right-wing parties to unite, citing the example of the 1992 election when splintering on the right was seen as allowing Yitzhak Rabin of Labor to become prime minister and the result was the agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), granting self-rule to a Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

Various right-wing parties have unified into one list for the September election but Zehut and another right-wing party, Otzma Yehudit, are each competing separately.

Feiglin says that if he feels the “responsibility” to consider a proposal which significantly changes the party’s platform or any commitment he has made to his followers, he would bring the matter to the Zehut membership for a vote and would act accordingly.