Far-right platforms take shape in Israeli primaries
The Religious Zionism primaries show how far the national-religious stream has veered to the right.
The far-right Religious Zionism party held its primary yesterday to determine the composition of its Knesset list for the upcoming November elections. While the outcome was certainly crucial for party leader Bezalel Smotrich, it was also very important to opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu.
The right-wing Likud party held its primary on Aug. 10. With that battle behind him, Netanyahu can now focus on the Knesset lists of his potential allies, Religious Zionism among them. Netanyahu heads a conservative, Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox bloc and its constituent parts depend on each other. If any of them fail to win sufficient support on Nov. 1, it will bring down the entire structure.
Judging by the results published last night and reactions within the Likud, Netanyahu can breathe a sigh of relief. Religious Zionism's members picked four respected incumbent lawmakers as its top candidates for the upcoming elections. Some 17,000 party members took part in the internal voting.
Netanyahu is building his comeback on an image of national responsibility and respectability for his bloc. Both he and Smotrich feared party members would pick unknown, marginal ultra-right candidates and thus bolster the rival bloc's chances of mobilizing support among more moderate voters on the right.
