Just nine days remain until the candidate lists close for the 26th Knesset, and we’re facing a political moment of truth. While the left-wing bloc appears organized and disciplined—having learned its lessons from the 2022 election—the right-wing bloc looks scattered and fragmented. The numbers in the work plans are clear: the right-wing base is larger, but without technical mergers and joint slates, it could lose precious seats because of unnecessary power games and ego. Experience shows that running separately is a guaranteed recipe for losing power, and the right cannot fall into this trap again.
1+The immediate call must go out to Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir, Moshe Feiglin, and Ofer Winter. These four forces must understand that running as a technical bloc doesn’t require giving up ideology or identity—it’s a mathematical necessity to prevent losing votes. In 2022, the merger of Ben Gvir and Smotrich produced a phenomenal result of 64 seats, giving the right key positions in security and the economy. Right now, my optimism is low. It seems some of the players have grown overconfident following recent successes, and they’re forgetting that politics is first and foremost a numbers game.
History is a flaming warning sign for us. In 1992, the stubbornness of Tehiya and Rabbi Levinger is what brought us the cursed Oslo Accords. In 2019, Feiglin and Naftali Bennett wasted precious seats because of splits, something that changed the face of Israeli history for the worse. We cannot repeat these mistakes. Anyone who thinks they can run alone and succeed is risking a rerun of those same political disasters. The right-wing bloc must wake up and understand that only a broad merger will ensure continued achievements and preservation of the Jewish majority.
1+As for attempts by figures like Gilad Erdan to create a new force, in my assessment this is a political featherweight. Erdan, who operates according to the advice of Ahithophel and tries to please the left-wing media, may find himself in the tragic role of Ayelet Shaked from the last election. He’s not on the field of the real right, and his attempt to scrape up votes will only weaken the bloc without getting him past the electoral threshold. These votes must converge into the large, united parties of the national camp.
Hanging in the balance right now are the most important things: continuing the seven-front campaign, the future of the economy, and the identity of the State of Israel as a Jewish state. In this political chess game, one small mistake of overconfidence (“my power and the might of my hand”) could lead to a resounding failure. The players on the right must look in the mirror and understand that a very thin line separates victory from defeat. The next nine days will determine whether the right knows how to preserve its power, or whether it will hand the left control on a silver platter due to irresponsibility.