Why Otzmah Yehudit flamed out in Israeli elections

The results of the March 2 election for the 23rd Knesset attest to the crash of Otzmah Yehudit (Jewish Power), the party that follows the path of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the man who brought ideological racism against Arabs to Israel. It received 19,362 votes, less than 0.5% of the vote. In the September 2019 election the party attracted 83,608 votes, or almost 2%. 

An analysis of March 2 voting at polling stations where in the past large percentages had voted for Otzmah Yehudit indicates that pre-election polls proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Grim predictions of the party failing to pass the vote threshold to enter the Knesset combined with President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” to destroy the party's chances. 

Leading up to the September election, Yamina senior Naftali Bennett had blocked the addition of Itamar Ben-Gvir, Otzmah Yehudit's chair, to the electoral list of his national-religious party. Thus, Otzmah Yehudit ran independently, and its focused campaign drew large numbers from among certain voters, such as those who for religious-ideological reasons couldn’t accept Ayelet Shaked, a secular woman, at the head of Yamina's list. The 83,000 votes Otzmah Yehudit won were worth two Knesset seats, but because of the high vote threshold, 3.25% of the vote, or four seats, it remained outside the Knesset. 

Ben-Gvir was then viewed as someone who wasted two seats for the right-wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc that could have helped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form a government. Leading up to the March election, many Otzmah Yehudit voters were convinced that if at the height of its strength the party couldn’t pass the vote threshold, it would be preferable to vote for other parties in the right-wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc. In this regard, there is a minor reason and a major reason why some Otzmah Yehudit supporters voted for the Likud this time.