With elections for Knesset set for September 17, 2019, the various political parties are working to arrange their lineup, and for some, this entails negotiating possible agreements to run together. One of these parties in Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party, which failed to meet the minimum election threshold to enter Knesset in the last election. He is negotiating with Naftali Bennet and Ayelet Shaked, whose New Right party also failed to enter Knesset in the last election, albeit by only some 1200 votes, while Feiglin’s party was not even close to the required number of votes to get in.

It is pointed out that at present, the New Right is also in limbo as it remains to be seen if Shaked will remain with Bennet, and if so, if Bennet will step aside and agree to give her the leadership slot as polls show that her popularity rating is far higher than Bennet’s.

Feiglin released a message on Wednesday night, in which he states the party will be running in the upcoming race, even if must do so alone, as was the case in the last election. He adds that he is giving serious consideration to a technical bloc with the New Right party, meaning they would join for the sake of getting into Knesset and then each party would operate independent of the other in Knesset.

He goes on to explain the party does not view itself as being a part of the dati leumi community, and that is why he is not considering a deal with the URWP headed by Rabbi Rafi Peretz.

“Zehut does not consider itself part of religious Zionism or any other sector. Within Zehut, to a large extent, the synergy required exists. The terms ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ – and to a certain extent the dichotomous division of right and left – are no longer relevant in the realm of Zehut. At Zehut conferences, one sees a Tel Aviv woman in a tank top with a chareidi man in his coat when the question of who belongs here to whom, who is here with whom, who is here at whose expense – this question does not exist at all. From a social point of view, it was possible at Zehut conferences to begin to smell the odor of redemption from the malignant polarization and Zehut has nothing to rely on but to negation of the other.

“Because everyone in Zehut has the same point on their forehead that says – I see you directly, not through the state. I want a state that will protect us, not a state that will separate us, take from us and divide us.

“The connection between Zehut and chareidi nationalism does not change the message of Zehut and rightly distinguishes its voters, and the chareidim naturally want the state to enforce their dreams. It cannot accept that part of the future picture – part of the Torah – lies in the pockets of the secular.

“I have great respect for the chareidim and their rabbonim, but the connection between Zehut and them is a combination of the opposite, and its damage will be greater than its benefit”, explains party chairman, Moshe Feiglin.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)