Officials in former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's Telem party – which last week announced that it had joined former IDF Chief Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience Party – are hinting that more political mergers are on the way.
Under the agreement between Gantz and Ya'alon, the No. 2 spot on the joint list is reserved for Ya'alon, and the fifth, eighth, 13th, 18th, and 23rd places on the list are reserved for Telem candidates. But those five spots on the list are still unfilled because the parties are waiting to strike more deals.
"For now, we're not filling in names because there are supposed to be more mergers," a Telem party official told Israel Hayom.
"Things will change because of the expected mergers, so there's no point in deciding on all the spots on the joint list right now," the official said.
On Sunday, Gantz and Ya'alon held a working meeting.
Gantz has reportedly been talking with former IDF Chief Gabi Ashkenazi, who is still mulling over entering politics. However, Israel Resilience has been openly courting Ashkenazi and hopes that if he decides not to join the party, he will endorse it.
As far as negotiations with Yesh Atid about a possible merger, Israel Resilience insists that given Gantz's strong showing the polls, he would have no reason to forgo the leadership of a joint party, if one were established, in favor of Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. The party is hoping that if Gantz continues to climb in the polls as Lapid drops, the latter will be persuaded to give up his role as party leader and join forces with Gantz.
Israel Resilience is also still in talks with MK Orly Levy-Abekasis, who launched her own party, Gesher, last year, and hopes that she will join Gantz's list.
On Sunday afternoon, Lapid was expected to give a "special" speech at a conference of the Movement for Quality Government. Lapid originally intended to attack Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and praise Gantz but decided to skip the warm words for Gantz.
In a related development, retired news anchor Miki Haimovich, who is expected to join Israel Resilience, has reportedly starting laying the groundwork for her foray into politics. On Saturday, she met with Hadash MK Dov Khenin, an experienced legislator, in a Tel Aviv café. However, Israel Resilience has yet to formally confirm that Haimovich is joining the party. Haimovich said in response, "We met to discuss environmental issues and the work the Knesset is doing in regard to them."
Meanwhile, Labor is worried that Gantz is gobbling up its already-shrinking voter base.
"It's a life-and-death battle. We're disturbed by the polls, and that affects us and is causing an uptick in tension," a senior Labor party official told Israel Hayom.
With slightly more than a week to go before the Labor primaries, "Gantz's party is gobbling up our votes," the official said.
"It doesn't look like we'll disappear from the political map. We'll get a minimum of six to eight seats, and that's nothing to brag about. In a situation like this, when [Labor leader Avi] Gabbay has two spots reserved in the top 10 on the list for his personal picks and three more spots on the list reserved for women, there is only a small number of places, and that is causing fierce competition," the official explained.
Labor MK Nahman Shai, who is competing in the party primaries, discussed his party's poor showing in the polls.
"People are making an effort to get onto the list. The outlook isn't optimistic but I believe that the final result will be better. The situation is tough but politics is up and down," Shai said.
Gabby is under the gun for posting a campaign video to his Facebook account that calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the "highest-ranking criminal in the world."
Hundreds of commenters accused Gabby, who urged users to share the video, of incitement.
