MK Itamar Ben-Gvir has already been meeting with professors, rabbis, and public figures to build his list for the Knesset.
According to a report by Amir Ettinger in Israel Hayom, the chairman of Otzma Yehudit has been given a boost. In closed talks, he said: "I think we need to hold negotiations now and close on a partnership. I'm not willing to wait until after Smotrich's primaries.".
There is no doubt that Smotrich and Ben Gvir want to continue together in the next Knesset. However, negotiations between them are not expected to be easy.
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Otzma Yehudit is seeing an influx into the party in internal polls, and the demands are accordingly. Ben-Gvir stated that he does not want to take second place from Smotrich's faction, but he is expected to demand that Smotrich fill all the places on the list, as well as an equal distribution of the apparatus and positions after the elections.
According to the report in Israel Hayom, the starting assumption in Ben-Gvir's party is that even in a separate run they will pass the threshold, but as mentioned, they are turning to a partnership.
On the other hand, it is not certain that Smotrich will agree to accept these demands. The chairman of Religious Zionism is holding primaries in his party, a process in which a lot of time is invested, and it does not seem that they will be happy to name Smotrich at the expense of Knesset members who were elected in the primaries.
Smotrich is not afraid of running separately either. He relies on a stable base of classical religious Zionism. If Ben-Gvir runs alone, Smotrich will not have to absorb the attempted delegitimization of Otzma Yehudit by the left, and he will also be able to earn votes from moderate and liberal religious Zionism that would not vote for him when he ran with Ben-Gvir.
