Three Israeli right-wing parties announced their alliance in a unified list in order to run in the elections scheduled for next March.
The Jewish Home, New Right, and National Union parties decided to run in the general elections on a unified list, while the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party, headed by Itamar Bin Ghafir, was excluded.
A joint statement issued by the three parties said today, Thursday, that the list will be headed by Minister of Security Naftali Bennett, former Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked of the New Right Party, and Minister of Education Ravi Peretz for the Jewish House.
Last night, the registration list of the Israeli political parties participating in the 23rd Knesset elections, in which 30 lists were contested, was closed.
The Israeli elections are scheduled for the third time in less than a year, on the second of March next, after the failure of Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud party, and the leader of the Blue and White party, Benny Gantz, in forming a unified Israeli government after two election rounds in April and September. The last two.
The agreement between the three parties came after a meeting with the Prime Minister of Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to unify the ranks of the right parties.
In a press statement, Bin Ghafir expressed his "deep indignation" to excluding his party from the list, and to canceling the unity agreement between them, and announced that he would contest the elections alone.
Bennett attacked Bin Ghafir in a post on his official account on Facebook saying, "I will not include in my list a person who keeps a picture in his living room for a person who killed 29 innocent people" in reference to the photo of Baruch Goldstein who killed 29 Palestinians inside the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994.
Bin Ghafir later announced that he would remove Goldstein´s image from his living room in order for the right to win the elections.
"I have explained countless times that I am against the attack of innocents," he said, adding that he attached a picture of Goldstein in deference to the man who saved the lives of many Jews while working as a doctor.
Israeli "12" reported that Netanyahu had threatened Naftali Bennett, leader of the new Right Party and Minister of the Occupation Army, with his dismissal from his post if he did not agree to contest the elections with Atsma Yehudit party in a unified list.
For his part, Benny Gantz (Blue and White) party leader said, "The Zionist religious voters have lost their political home."
In parallel, the Israeli Labor-Bridge and Meretz parties announced that they would run in the general elections with a joint list under the name (The Truth), which will be headed by the leader of the Labor-Bridge, Amir Peretz.
Peretz and Meretz chairman Nitzan Horovitch said that this step will guarantee the ability to form a government and overthrow Netanyahu.
Peretz said in remarks carried by the official Israeli broadcasting "Makan" that "the era of Netanyahu is over."
Because of this agreement, the leader of the "Green" party, Staff St Shaffer, announced that she would not participate in the upcoming elections.
"I will do all that is necessary, because the fate of the State of Israel is more important than any chair in the Knesset, even if it is the seat that I sat on," Shafir said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
"I pay with pride," she said. "We will all step up to vote against immunity and for Israel."
She presented 30 lists of names of her candidates for the Central Elections Committee before the closing of the candidacy last night, including the joint list led by Ayman Awda.
The joint list of its four parties (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) headed by Ayman Odeh, (the United Arab List) headed by Mansour Abbas, (the National Democratic Assembly) headed by Emmans Shehadeh, and (the Arab Movement for Change) headed by Ahmed al-Tibi presented a list of their candidates to the Central Elections Committee .
In statements to reporters, Odeh said that the aim of the list is to reach 15 parliamentary seats, to "topple" Netanyahu from power in Israel, and to eliminate violence in Arab cities and villages.
