On the night of Jan. 15, moments before the deadline to submit candidate lists for the 23rd Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in forcing the three parties on the right – HaBayit HaYehudi, the New Right, and the National Union – to merge and form a single list that will support him through hell and high water. He managed it even though none of the parties wanted to take part in their own “shotgun wedding.” After all, they had run as a bloc, Yamina, in the September 2019 elections only to end their partnership as soon as the disappointing results came in.
To create the new Yamina, HaBayit HaYehudi reneged on an earlier accord with the far-right Otzma Yehudit. Though HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman Rabbi Rafi Peretz is hardly an experienced politician, he was well aware of the political significance of violating the agreement he had signed with Otzma Yehudit.
