In spite of repeatedly not passing the electoral threshold in the previous elections, Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben Gvir has chosen to stay in the election race. Ben Gvir was facing mounting pressure from sources in the right-wing Chareidi camp as well as the Likud party to withdraw his party from the race so as not to lose votes that may otherwise come to support right-wing parties and may end the stalemate in the Israeli Knesset.
All polls taken thus far show that the party will not pass the electoral threshold and therefore fail to gain any seats in the upcoming Knesset.
On Sunday evening Ben Gvir made an official statement to the media that said: “We are here to stay. The right does not have 61 mandates without Otzma Yehudit. We have promised to stay and this is our word… It’s not a secret that we negotiated with all the right-wing parties. They told me, ‘You will be the hero of the right,’ but they are right-wing in words and not in deeds,” he added.
Ben Gvir added, “We have come to politics to change, to pose an alternative. My friends have recommended that I retire so I can become a hero. I am not a politician, I represent a path. Tonight we received the opinion of Rabbi Dov Lior Shlita who instructed us to continue running so that the truth will prevail.”
Reiterating the party’s campaign slogan Ben Gvir concluded by saying: “It is clear for everyone that the results of the election will be either a government with Otzma Yehudit in it or a fourth round of elections.”
Many fear that votes going to Otzma will prevent the right-wing from securing 61 seats and cost them the election.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Baruch Hashem.
The reason Otzma doesn’t pass the threshold is because people say not to vote for them because they won’t pass the threshold. The right path is to keep being the only party that stands for what is right and to show that without them things will be a disaster.
You should have made a reasonable deal. Something is better than nothing at all.
It’s pretty obvious he has to stay in if he wants to stay in politics. The only way a party like this will ever grow nationally is if they continue to be seen. If they fold, they’re done.