Tekuma, the only remnant of the National Union, will select its candidates for
the January 22 general election Sunday, in a vote of its central committee in
Jerusalem.
The National Union will run together with Habayit Hayehudi on
a joint list. MKs Arieh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari left the National Union and
formed a more right-wing party called Otzma Le’Israel, which will run
separately.
Candidates running in Sunday’s vote include veteran Hebron
activist Orit Struck; Detroit-born Chicagoraised National Union faction
secretary Uri Bank; deputy Bat Yam Mayor Uri Buskila; former national religious
court secretary Eli Ben-Dahan; Tekuma secretary-general Nachi Eyal and Rehovot
party activist Amitai Cohen.
Struck said she was running on her 30 years
of accomplishments on behalf of the Jews of Hebron. She noted that there has
never been an MK from Hebron in the Knesset.
If elected, she would be the
second high-profile woman on the joint Habayit Hayehudi-National union list,
joining the secular Ayelet Shaked, who was elected to Habayit Hayehudi’s third
slot last Tuesday.
Bank turned down opportunities to run with Eldad and
Ben-Ari because he believes it is important to maintain unity in the national
religious camp.
He warned that past splits in the camp enabled the
advancement of the Oslo Accords.
Bank said that if elected, he can bring
English-speaking voters to the party. “Since my friend and neighbor, Jeremy
Gimpel, did not win a top slot in Habayit Hayehudi, I hope the National Union
puts me high enough to be a strong Anglo candidate,” said Bank.
Current
National Union chairman Ya’acov Katz did not submit his candidacy, but is
expected to take advantage of a loophole in the party’s bylaws in order to run.