The Jewish Power party issued a definitive statement Friday declaring it will not run jointly with the Religious Zionism party in the upcoming Knesset elections. Party officials emphasized the decision is final, stating: "This decision is absolute and will not change under any circumstances."
The announcement came just minutes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his second public appeal to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to unite their parties. Netanyahu invited both ministers to meet with him Sunday, explaining the move as necessary to prevent wasted votes within the right-wing bloc. "We cannot waste a single vote, we must unite to save the right-wing bloc!" Netanyahu declared.
Jewish Power went beyond simply rejecting a joint ticket, announcing it would refuse to participate in any further discussions on the matter. "Accordingly, there will be no contacts, meetings or conversations on this issue, neither directly nor indirectly," the party stated.
While closing the door on running with Religious Zionism, Jewish Power presented Prime Minister Netanyahu with two alternative proposals that it claims could prevent vote loss among right-wing parties.
The first option calls for uniting all smaller parties. Jewish Power referred to them as "fragments of small parties" and urged Netanyahu to work toward consolidating them ahead of the elections.
