Shaked, the only woman leading a list with a realistic chance of getting into the next Knesset, took the helm of the Yamina bloc, made up of Bayit Yehudi, her former party, New Right, the party she and Naftali Bennett founded that did not pass the threshold in the last election, and National Union.Shaked’s leadership is controversial and was opposed by prominent rabbis, as she is not Orthodox and almost everyone else on the list is a religious-Zionist. She also has a famously antagonistic relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after her tenure as his chief of staff ended badly over a decade ago.Yamina and Shaked firmly oppose a Palestinian state and advocate for the annexation and expansion of settlements.On security issues, Shaked has stood with her political partner Bennett in calling for the government to take a stronger stand and more decisive action against Hamas.Shaked is best-known for her time as justice minister, during which she stood as a firm opponent of judicial activism. She used political maneuvers to ensure that more conservative judges were appointed and spoke out strongly against the High Court of Justice’s intervention in decisions made by the government and the Knesset.While Shaked has generally steered clear of religion and state issues, she and Bennett said they would be more moderate and welcoming to Israelis as leaders of the New Right. However, now that they are back together with Bayit Yehudi and National Union, staunch supporters of the status quo, they are unlikely to be able to promote change.Yamina has said it will only join a coalition led by Likud, and has campaigned strongly on the message that Netanyahu will not form a right-wing government unless their party is larger than it was last time.
