Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, stated at a press conference yesterday that his party would contest the election for the 23rd Knesset, due to take place on March 2.
The other parties of the right have been pressing Ben-Gvir to quit the race, after Rafi Peretz, head of Habayit Hayehudi, reneged on his agreement with him to run on a joint list, and instead joined forces with Yamina.
Ben-Gvir said that despite the denial by the Prime Minister's Office that he had been offered a ministerial post if he would take his party out of contention, "They know very well who in the coalition proposed that I should be a minister on behalf of one of the haredi parties. They offered me positions in the Jewish National Fund, in the Zionist Federation, in the Israel Bar Association, even an ambassadorship."
In the election for the 22nd Knesset in September last year, Otzma Yehudit won 83,000 votes, a good showing for a small independent list, but not enough to take it over the minimum 3.25% vote share to be allocated any Knesset seats. The fear on the right is that Otzma Yehudit will again fail to pass the minimum threshold, which will mean that the votes for it will be wasted, weakening the right-wing block.
Likud chairman Miki Zohar tweeted: "The media will embrace him, and the left will applaud him because with his very own hands he is giving them power… sad."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 21, 2020
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