While the final tabulation of votes hasn’t been completed, it appears that the United Right-Wing parties received a total of 5-to-6 seats. Itamar Ben-Gvir, among the heads of the Otzma Yehudit party, was seventh on the combined list and his entry into the 21st Knesset is now dependent on the good will of party chairman Rafi Peretz and number two man on the list, MK Betzalel Smotrich. This could be accomplished by the party using the Norwegian Law, which means when Peretz and/or Smotrich are appointed cabinet ministers, they can resign from Knesset to permit Ben-Gvir to enter.
During the campaign, Smotrich stated he will do everything to get Ben-Gvir into Knesset, but now it will depend on the party chairman as well and Peretz is less inclined to be as accommodating. Rav Peretz has maintained throughout the election that the union was just a “technical bloc” for the purpose of the election and then Otzma Yehudit can go on its own way.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Why is he so, so important? מה טיבו?
He’s important because Otzma voters didn’t vote for the list so that Peretz can be a macher. They voted in the expectation of getting at least one MK and the court cheated them of that. If Ben-Gvir isn’t somehow pushed in they will feel robbed and will never fall for such a trick again.
But it’s going to be difficult now that URP seems to be down to 4 seats. Even if they get 2 ministers, which is doubtful, the Norwegian law will only promote the next two on the list, which will still leave Ben-Gvir out in the cold.