by Nitzan Kedar, translated and adapted by Hillel Fendel
The following analysis of the prospects and strategies of attaining unity in the national-religious-Zionist camp as we approach the Israeli elections was written several days ago in the Besheva newspaper. This was before Betzalel Smotrich announced that his new "Religious Zionism" party would not be running together with Naftali Bennett's "Yemina" [To the Right"] party. However, it is important to note that Smotrich qualified his remarks by stating that if Bennett "wakes up and returns to himself," the two could run together.
Before every Israeli election – the upcoming one will be the fourth one in the past two years – MK Naftali Bennett, head of the Yemina party, faces the same dilemma. On the one hand, he sees flattering national polls, which he interprets as a call to break out of the "religious Zionist" niche and actively run for Prime Minister – his long-coveted goal.
On the other hand, he sorely remembers the April 2019 elections, when he broke away from the religious-Zionist parties – and proceeded to receive insufficient votes to even get him into the Knesset! (The religious parties received five Knesset mandates.) This, of course, sent him running right back to his national-religious base.