What Is the Israeli Far-Right Bloc That’s Key to Netanyahu’s Comeback?
Itamar Ben-Gvir, far-right lawmaker and leader of the Jewish Power Party, left, and Bezalel Smotrich, far-right lawmaker and leader of the Religious Zionist Party.
Photographer: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty ImagesIncoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, has served in the post five times before. But when he returns to office following Nov. 1 elections, it will likely be, for the first time, as the head of a government coalition in which his Likud party is the most moderate member. The expected inclusion of a far-right bloc risks igniting tensions both within Israel and between the country and its most important ally, the US.
Known as Religious Zionism, it’s a merger of a party of the same name, headed by former transportation minister Bezalel Smotrich, and several others including Jewish Power, led by controversial firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir, 46. Barring a surprise in final voting, the bloc was on track to have 14 of 120 seats in the next Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Preliminarily, Netanyahu’s Likud had 32, and the other parties in the likely government coalition, both representing Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, had 18.