The withdrawal storm in the Amcha Yisrael faction is picking up speed: two weeks before the election, David Ben Zion, number eight on the party's list, announced he is pulling out of the Knesset race, and the details are now emerging of the pressure campaign that led to the dramatic move. At the centre of it: a blunt assessment from former Justice and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.
According to ynet reporter Amir Etinger, Ben Zion spoke with Shaked in recent days as he weighed his options and consulted her on the party's chances. Shaked was unequivocal: drawing on her own bitter experience in the April 2019 election, when her Hayamin Hehadash party fell short of the threshold by a handful of votes, she told him that Ofer Winter and his party are not going to make it over the line, and that continuing the race poses a real risk to the entire right-wing bloc.
