Moshe Feiglin, founder and chairman of the Zehut Party, and former Otzma Yehudit chairman Michael Ben-Ari agreed on Wednesday to run together on a joint list in the upcoming election.
It is the first political alliance to be established on the Right for this election.
The alliance was born out of the understanding that the faith-based nationalist public in Israel currently “needs a strong political home,” Zehut said in a press release.
The party would not compromise on the values of freedom, sovereignty, and Jewish identity, it said.
Zehut ran in the 2019 election and was expected to surpass the electoral threshold. Polls projected it could win between eight and 10 seats, but it ultimately failed to enter the Knesset.
Feiglin had previously been a member of Likud, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He resigned after he did not receive a higher slot on the party’s Knesset list after its primaries.
Feiglin founded the Zehut Party in 2015. Its platform centered on Jewish identity and personal liberty. It advocated for far-right security policies, including the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, while also supporting libertarian economic policies and the legalization of cannabis.
Ben-Ari co-founded the far-right Otzma Yehudit Party, which National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir now leads.
Ben-Ari had previously been a member of the Kach Party, which was banned in 1985 for inciting racism. The High Court of Justice disqualified him from running in the 2019 election on grounds of racism. He was later indicted in 2024 for allegedly inciting racism against Arabs.
New joint party seeks to end 'containment and conflict management'
The alliance between Feiglin and Ben-Ari is based on a set of core principles, including a decisive military victory and “an end to the policy of containment and conflict management,” Zehut said.
“Our policy advocates total defeat of the enemy, conquest of all territories from which we have been attacked that are within the borders of the biblical Land of Israel, expulsion of terrorist elements there, and the application of full Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza,” it said.
Zehut called for renewed Jewish settlement throughout the country, which is “a supreme national and strategic value.”
The party said it would seek to strengthen the character and identity of Israel as a Jewish state and restore “sovereignty, power, and governance to the people and their elected representatives.”
This includes reducing the number of government ministries, “freeing the citizen from the shackles of bureaucracy,” and ensuring the individual’s freedom from the apparatus of the state, it said.
Zehut said it would actively encourage aliyah, absorb Jews from the Diaspora, and strengthen the Jewish people’s historical connection to their homeland.
After the October 7 massacre, it was necessary to join forces and work to prevent the terrorist attacks from recurring, Feiglin said.
“The union of the Zehut Party with Dr. Michael Ben-Ari gives the national camp the clear direction it has so lacked, and the ideological and intellectual depth that will allow us to throw the bloody Oslo Accords into the trash bin of history and finally offer a true alternative from the Right,” he said.
“We call on all who want to combine a solid Jewish identity with true personal freedom to join the Zehut Party and help build for our children a secure and prosperous Jewish state,” Feiglin said.
Ben-Ari said the October 7 massacre underscored the importance of the alliance running in the election.
“We seek to serve as an ideological wall, providing all that is necessary to maintain Israel as a Jewish state,” he said.
A joint headquarters has already begun formulating the party’s full slate of members, which is expected to include “well-known and respected figures from the faith-based intellectual and security spheres,” Ben-Ari said.