Flailing Netanyahu asks Rabbi Druckman to head Bayit Yehudi, he declines
The idea was apparently for Druckman, who has supported the inclusion of Otzma in a right-wing religious joint list, to use his authority to cajole the other party leaders to accept the move.
By JEREMY SHARONRabbi Druckman voting(photo credit: Courtesy)
In increasingly desperate efforts to bring Bayit Yehudi and far-right Otzma Yehudit into a united right-wing electoral list with New Right and National Union, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked senior national religious leader Rabbi Haim Druckman to take up the position of Bayit Yehudi chairman.The idea was apparently for Druckman, who has supported the inclusion of Otzma in a right-wing religious joint list, to temporarily take the reins of Bayit Yehudi and use his rabbinic authority to cajole the other party leaders to accept the far-right party into its ranks.Netanyahu is urgently trying to get the other religious-Zionist, right wing parties to include Otzma in their union in order to boost the right-wing bloc’s chances of securing a majority in the upcoming election.Druckman, who is 87 and has served in the past as an MK for Bayit Yehudi’s predecessor the National Religious Party, refused the offer however.Bayit Yehudi is in turmoil at present. Its leader Rabbi Rafi Peretz has become highly unpopular and its voter base has been squeezed dramatically by the establishment of the New Right party by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked.Peretz’s refusal to allow primary elections for the leadership and composition of the electoral list has also generated much anger against him.Chaos and violence broke out at Bayit Yehudi’s central committee meeting Monday night due to Peretz’s insistence that he alone be in charge of unity negotiations, while National Union, another right-wing, religious party, defected to join New Right.This has left Bayit Yehudi and Otzma, with whom Peretz did a unity deal in December, out in the cold and Netanyahu, as well as Bayit Yehudi supporters, is extremely concerned that this party alone will not pass the electoral threshold.
