Netanyahu and Smotrich join forces in campaign – and who was left out?

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich are holding a closed conference for dozens of senior rabbis under the banner 'Saving the Right', aiming to establish a field network of thousands of activists and yeshiva students to bring tens of thousands of right-wing voters to the polls. Ben Gvir was not invited; organizers reject claims of a boycott and explain that the event relies on the Religious Zionism infrastructure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are expected to hold a closed conference tomorrow (Thursday) for dozens of senior rabbis and heads of institutions, as part of a joint effort to mobilize right-wing voters ahead of the elections for the 26th Knesset. The conference, under the banner 'Saving the Right', aims to lay the groundwork for establishing a field infrastructure that will activate thousands of activists to bring tens of thousands of supporters to the polls. The cooperation is conducted on an open channel with full coordination between the campaign chiefs of the two, a direct continuation of coordination from the war period. The event will take place in a closed forum of several dozen rabbis and heads of institutions, not as a mass election event, with the intention of building a field network that will operate in the final weeks of the campaign. Through the rabbis, the plan is to reach thousands of activists and yeshiva students from the Religious Zionism public who will mobilize to drive voters and bring tens of thousands of votes to the right. A central focus around the conference is the absence of Otzma Yehudit chairman, Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who was not invited. The organizers rejected claims of a deliberate boycott and explained that the event relies on the Religious Zionism field infrastructure. The issue connects to the political tension that erupted this week, after Likud signed a formal surplus agreement with Religious Zionism and not with Otzma Yehudit. Otzma Yehudit harshly attacked and claimed that this is a move to weaken their party. Now, the move crosses the boundaries of the surplus agreement and becomes a large-scale operational field cooperation.