PM says Kahane disciple will be member of his 'full right-wing government'; says he will refuse to share premiership with anyone else

By now, few will be swayed by the premier's graft cases, so parties are focusing on his handling of the pandemic instead, as polls show that tiny moves can trigger tectonic shifts

Agreement with Smotrich's Religious Zionism party further aligns PM with extremists such as Otzma Yehudit's Itamar Ben Gvir

Initial surveys after closing of official slates for March elections see both Netanyahu and his opponents short of majority; several parties in danger of falling below threshold

Ben Gvir says that in talks with Netanyahu associates ahead of far-right merger, both sides recognized that PM can't form right-wing coalition without his slate in Knesset

Meanwhile, Labor, Meretz and Yaron Zelekha's party confirm separate runs and Ra'am splits from Joint List Arab alliance, underscoring a splintered anti-Netanyahu camp

Likud lawmaker, who fell seriously ill in December, urges public to 'take the disease seriously'; will present ruling party's electoral slate

Galit Distal Atbaryan will be placed at number 10 on the ruling party's electoral list for the March election; negotiations still ongoing for other spots to be chosen by PM

Netanyahu has been pushing alliance, which will also include the anti-LGBT Noam party, over concerns factions would fall under electoral threshold if they ran alone

Aaron Klein confirmed as head of Likud bid for March election; ruling party says US-born adviser 'one of the most talented strategists we ever worked with'