Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu.

Times of Israel – With a month to go before Israel’s elections, Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to merge his Likud party list with Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu is looking wiser by the day — because the Jewish Home party, once a marginal player to the Likud’s right, is getting stronger by the day.

It was always clear that Liberman had much to gain from the merger with Netanyahu: His position as No. 2 on the joint list marked him as heir apparent, smoothing the path to his long-term goal of becoming prime minister. Now that he is about to be indicted, the alliance means Yisrael Beytenu will not be facing the electorate alone with a lame-duck leader who can’t be a minister for a while, but rather is contentedly subsumed in a partnership with its Likud big brother.

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