Extremist Jewish Power Party Leaves Right-Wing Alliance Ahead Of Elections
Otzma Yehudit leader Michael Ben-Ari speaks at a rally, January 2019. Image by Michael Ben-Ari/Facebook
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The extremist right-wing Jewish Power party, or Otzma Yehudit, said it will not run on the same list with the Jewish Home Party like it did in April.
Otzma Yehudit said that Jewish Home was not honoring the terms of the merger agreement, including not requiring its Knesset members appointed last week as government ministers to resign from Knesset under the Norwegian law, in order to allow the Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben Gvir to enter Knesset.
The union of the two smaller right-wing parties was brokered by Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the national elections in April in order to shore up votes to allow him to form a government with a solid bloc of right-wing parties. The parties won five seats in the short-lived 21st Knesset. New national elections are scheduled for September 17.
Otzma Yehudit said in a letter to Jewish Home Party head Rafi Peretz announcing the split that it is “trying to form other unions that will strengthen the right in the coming elections.”
The National Union Party, part of the Union of Right Wing Parties alliance with Jewish Home and Otzma Yehudit, called on the parties to stop “unnecessary wars within the right-wing camp.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Northwestern University defaced by anti-Israel graffiti during passover
-
Fast Forward Eyeing an escape route in the Trump era, these American Jews are moving to Canada
-
Fast Forward US Jewish voting surges in Zionist election, with ballots open through May 4
-
Fast Forward Pro-Israel groups called for Mohsen Mahdawi’s deportation. He was arrested at a citizenship interview.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward How Coke’s Passover recipe sparked an antisemitic conspiracy theory
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion The Passover attack on Josh Shapiro was terrifying. But don’t assume it was antisemitic
-
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
-
Fast Forward Northwestern University defaced by anti-Israel graffiti during passover
-
Fast Forward Eyeing an escape route in the Trump era, these American Jews are moving to Canada
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.