In essence this is the Israeli form of gerrymandering. they dont care what is or isnt good for the country (and I am not saying it is bad, but they arent doing it because of idealistic reasons based on research and thought of what an ethical electoral system looks like but because he doesnt want to lose numbers of votes).

Anyway, in my opinion, Smotritch doesnt need to be saved as he will run as a bloc, presumably with Ben Gvir like last time. After elections they can split off to function and operate separately, as they did last time. On the left the parties at risk will be too haughty and stupid to make such arrangements, but if there is any real risk to Smotritch they will make deals to make sure he and his get in. The coalition would actually likely be better off not lowering the threshold as Netanyahu will push them to run together even if they dont want to, ensuring those votes are not wasted, while on the Left it is highly likely such parties will not make similar deals and votes will be wasted...