In the Nov. 29 edition of Makor Rishon, the leading newspaper of the religious Zionist movement, editor Haggai Segal published a column under the headline, “Time to resign.” In it, he wrote, “The right cannot wait. Time is against us in a terrifying way … [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] enemies have already succeeded in defeating him, so if he doesn’t want them to defeat the entire right, he has no choice but to surrender, instead of dragging us into a new election.”

Segal is a leading opinion shaper among the religious Zionist stream and settlers. Now, even he is joining a growing number of people in that camp, who believe that despite their unreserved support for Netanyahu, given the current political situation, he must give up his position so that the right-wing bloc can form a new government.

On Nov. 27, in a column for the Srugim website, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel was critical of those rabbis aligned with the religious right, who attended demonstrations in support of Netanyahu, arguing that a third election would be disastrous. “This election would result in a social, political and economic catastrophe for us and the country. We would be entering a bitter fight, which would spread an 'alien fire' across the country. And what would be left after that? Scorched earth. How will we be able to live here together after that?”

He continued, “Netanyahu will not form the next government. The right-wing camp is entering these elections battered and bruised. The religious Zionist movement is divided. The chance of reaching a clear [electoral] decision in its favor is slim, if not a pipe dream. We must not gamble away the whole pot, sacrifice all that we have achieved and give up on our objectives. We don’t need to fall on our swords with Netanyahu and commit suicide along with him.” Ariel went on to call on the religious Zionist camp to join forces with the Blue and White party, even if it means forming a narrow government without the Likud.