Right-wing parties unite, headed by Shaked

“Weeks of effort have borne fruit. We have united the right-wing parties into a joint list to ensure that valuable votes are not wasted,” Shaked said.

By World Israel News Staff

Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked will head a new bloc, the United Right.

Following weeks of negotiations, the New Right, a party formed by Shaked and former Jewish Home party leader and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, will merge with the Jewish Home and National Union, headed by current party leader and Education Minister Rafi Peretz.

On Sunday, Peretz conceded the top spot to Shaked.

The main bone of contention between the two sides concerned ninth place on the list, which ultimately went to the New Right, Israel Hayom reported.

The parties have agreed to recommend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for another term.

“Weeks of effort have borne fruit. We have united the right-wing parties into a joint list to ensure that valuable votes are not wasted,” Shaked said, referring to the loss of the votes that the New Right received in the April election, which were useless because the party didn’t make the threshold.

“In recent weeks, I have been working around the clock with my partners. We succeeded,” she continued, saying that she will now work on bringing more parties into the bloc.

“We should all be in one big faction. We will pursue our unity efforts until the last minute,” she said.

Shaked has said that she would welcome into the bloc the Zehut party, which also failed to meet the electoral threshold.

On Monday, however, Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin told IDF Radio, “Although I brought more votes than Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett, Shaked did not turn to me at all, and no negotiations were conducted even though everyone knew our hands were outstretched. We will run ourselves and enter the Knesset.”

Shaked is number one on the United Right list; Peretz is second; Bezalel Smotrich, head of Tkuma, a party in the National Union, is third; and Bennett is fourth.