Former Shas MK Eli Yishai met on Tuesday evening 24 Kislev with Housing Minister Uri Ariel to determine if the two can work together. No agreement was reached but they described the meeting as good.
Ariel heads the Tekuma faction in the Bayit Yehudi party and he continues negotiations with Bayit Yehudi head Economy Minister Naftali Bennett. Rabbonim who generally direct Tekuma such as HaGaon HaRav Dov Lior Shlita and HaGaon HaRav Elyakim Levanon Shlita have instructed Ariel to break from Bennett and move to Yishai’s new party. Former Bayit Yehudi MK Yoni Chetboun as already done so, announcing his move earlier in the week.
On Tuesday night, the new party’s rav HaGaon HaRav Meir Mazuz Shlita announced that he will not break from the tradition followed by chareidi parties and there will not be women in the lineup. This undoubtedly complicates things for Ariel for one of the members of his faction currently serving in Bayit Yehudi is Hebron resident Mrs. Orit Struk.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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As long as it passes the threshold, and doesn’t risk causing any existing religious party to fall under the threshold, a “Hardal” list (more nationalistic than the hareidi parties, more religious than Bayit Yehudi) would be in the interests of the hareidi parties and Bayit Yehudi since it would reduce the risk of “wasted votes” or alienated non-voters. It would leave the hareidi parties in a better position to work deals with the left (if the left wins) since they wouldn’t be weighed down by nationalists, and it would help Bayi Yehudi compete for voters who are turned off by a party that is too religious.
The three existing hareidi parties and Bayit Yehudi should welcome the new bloc, “agree to disagree” on the points that divide them, and plan to work together on what they agree on. By being “mantschlicht” to each other, they all win.