The alliance comes ahead of the deadline for submitting party lists next week and as a group of small right-wing parties continues to fail to pass the electoral threshold in recent polling.

Smotrich largely stayed away from the back-and-forth, writing in a post on Twitter/X that “the time for unity and responsibility is now.”

The deadline for submitting candidate lists forces the parties to finalize their alliances, but the coalition question will remain open even after the final votes are cast.