Bayit Yehudi leaders rebuke Rafi Peretz over union with far-right Otzma
Bayit Yehudi officials said that party leader Rafi Peretz was “continuing to conduct political tricks without people of his party.”
By JEREMY SHARONMK Rafi Peretz, 2019.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Senior leaders of Bayit Yehudi, including several deputy mayors, have condemned party leader Rabbi Rafi Peretz for deciding unilaterally to unite with the far-right Otzmah Yehudit party and alleged that his motivation was purely to save his political career.On Friday, Peretz suddenly announced that he had come to an agreement with Otzma leader Itamar Ben Gvir in a move that seemed designed to fend off a challenge for leadership of the religious-Zionist bloc by head of the National Union party Betzalel Smotrich.On Saturday night, some 80 senior party officials signed a letter saying that they were “shocked” to discover that he had signed the agreement without consultations, and without considering “more natural alliances.”The Bayit Yehudi officials continued by saying that Peretz was “continuing to conduct political tricks without people of his party,” and is “trying every way not to stand in democratic [primary] elections and is preventing the candidacy of other leaders in the religious-Zionist community just to block them and save his own seat.”On Saturday night, Peretz’s only fellow Bayit Yehudi MK also strongly criticized his party leader, saying that he had no idea Peretz was planning the union with Otzma.“The central committee must be convened immediately to discuss the agreement and the manner in which the electoral list is selected, and [to discuss] a merger with National Union and to allow the membership of Bayit Yehudi to make the decision,” said Yogev on Twitter.“We are a Zionist, religious and democratic party,” he added in a veiled rebuke to Peretz.
