Until a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign tactic was to help the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) garner enough votes to enter the Knesset and thereby ensure a 61-seat majority for his right-wing, ultra-Orthodox bloc of parties. The party’s racist agenda did not matter to Netanyahu as long as it helped him hold on to power. It was reported on Feb. 13 that Netanyahu’s close associate Natan Eshel had even tried to persuade the ultra-Orthodox Yahadut HaTorah to instruct some of its followers, members of the smaller Hasidic courts, to vote for Otzma Yehudit, as if the Hasidim were tradable commodities. Eshel also reportedly appealed to senior religious Zionist rabbis, asking them to express public support for Otzma Yehudit rather than Yamina, their home party.

Nothing transpired from the outreach to Yahadut HaTorah, and polls commissioned by the Likud showed that in any case the small Otzma Yehudit will only be wasting right-wing votes if it runs in the March 2 elections, as it would still not have enough support to get into the Knesset. On Feb. 18, reports emerged that the Likud was exerting strong pressure on Rabbi Dov Lior, one of the most radical religious Zionist rabbis, to convince Otzma Yehudit Chair Itamar Ben-Gvir to drop out of the race. Ben-Gvir, however, has stood his ground. Not only does he not intend to bow out, he is offering his voters a “worthwhile deal”: Vote Otzma Yehudit, and I'll protect Netanyahu.

Billboards and other campaign ads make no mention of Otzma Yehudit’s fascist ideology, its hatred of Arabs, its xenophobia and or its loathing of the political left. Instead, the message is simple: Without Otzma Yehudit, a right-wing coalition government is impossible, or put another way, Netanyahu will not be able to continue as prime minister, so if you want him to remain in power, vote Otzma Yehudit. Two for the price of one. Viewed from another angle, Otzma Yehudit will unreservedly back the person who is now doing all he can to prevent its running for election to the Knesset. This is a strange relationship between friends. One side is trying to subvert the other, which, in turn, is offering love and support.

Ben-Gvir did not craft this strange formula. All the right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties appear to be under the same spell as their leaders, blindly following Netanyahu, who appears to have convinced their voters that he is the be all and end all. Take for example Yamina, the alliance of right-wing parties led by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett. Netanyahu has relentlessly bashed Bennett and humiliated him at every turn (although in a moment of weakness he did give Bennett the job overseeing the Defense Ministry last fall). He has sent emissaries to religious Zionism’s prominent rabbis to exhort them to withdraw their support for Bennett, but like some kind of indentured servant, Bennett is unable to escape Netanyahu’s clutches.