Israel: Ayelet Shaked warns religious Zionists to get out and vote

Yamina chair and former justice minister Ayelet Shaked has warned religious Zionist voters to “wake up”, ahead of an election that could see far-right parties left in the opposition.

Speaking to pro-settler news outlet Arutz Sheva, Shaked said “we’re in a very critical time”.

“It is a real emergency,” she continued, “and I urge all religious Zionism and the ideological Right to wake up. At present, the situation is not good and the entire Right-leaning bloc is in danger because of the two seats held by Otzma Yehudit.”

Far-right faction Otzma Yehudit is currently polling below the electoral threshold, meaning that their votes would effectively be wasted, and lost to the right-wing bloc.

“These are very critical choices and we must vote for parties that pass the threshold,” Shaked explained. “Otzma Yehudit must stop this game because they won’t pass and they’re risking the entire Right.”

READ: Netanyahu demands 2nd far-right party quit Israel election

“We need great forces both on the ground and in the social networks,” Shaked urged. “The heads of institutions need to wake up. We could end this election with all of religious Zionism and the ideological Right in the opposition.”

According to the Yamina head: “Netanyahu will be Prime Minister either way, but if our seats are thrown in the bin or passed to the Likud, it could be that we’ll shrink so much that we find ourselves in the opposition.”

Shaked’s fear is that Netanyahu could emerge from the election with an offer to Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) head Benny Gantz to help form a unity government.

“If we don’t get big and strong, with a double-digit number, it might very well not be us [invited to form a coalition],” she said. “The fact that Likud doesn’t attack Gantz proves that they are paving his way to the government.”

READ: Israel’s far-right parties under pressure to drop out

In particular, Shaked sought to mobilise Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank “for whom we work hard” – “you know that without us – there’s no settlement”, she declared.

“Netanyahu talked about applying sovereignty to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank] solely because of us. When we entered politics, he was talking about a Palestinian state. If we don’t become big and strong, his words will remain words and won’t develop into action.”