clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israel right-wing parties unite to sideline Netanyahu’s Likud

January 6, 2021 at 11:55 am

Israeli Likud Party campaign material and posters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following election night on 10 April 2019 in Tel Aviv [Jack GUEZ/AFP/Getty]

Two right-wing Israeli parties yesterday signed a vote-sharing agreement in an apparent effort to sideline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.

The move was signed by the leader of the Yamina Party, Naftali Bennett, and Gideon Sa’ar – the founder of the Tikva Hadha (New Hope) Party who recently resigned from the Likud. The accord comes weeks ahead of the upcoming Israeli Knesset elections.

Local i24 described the deal as the “first political strike by the right-wing parties against the ruling Likud.”

“With this agreement in place, the right-wing parties have opened an official battle to contest the legislative election which is due on 23 March,” the news website said, adding that the Likud was “likely to remain the only party without a deal on surplus votes in the twenty-fourth Knesset election.”

Israel is due to hold its fourth election in two years as its coalition government collapsed last month after it could not agree on a budget.

OPINION: The dissolution of Israel’s parliament could save Netanyahu from prosecution