Bayit Yehudi party leader Naftali Bennett met on Tuesday morning 24 Kislev with Uri Ariel, who holds the number two slot in the lineup and heads the Tekuma faction. The two met for an hour but no agreement was reached. They told the media that negotiations will end by week’s end.
The two also met on Monday night in the hope of reaching agreement by which Tekuma will remain in Bayit Yehudi in the upcoming elections. Channel 2 political affairs correspondent Amit Segal reported via his Twitter account that Bennett made his final offer which entails giving Tekuma four slots in the first 20 of the party lineup including Ariel maintaining his position as number two in the party.
When the sides reached an impasse on Monday night they decided to meet again in the morning but once again, the meeting concluded without reaching agreement.
Two rabbonim affiliated with the Tekuma faction, HaGaon HaRav Dov Lior Shlita and HaGaon HaRav Elyakim Levanon Shlita are calling on Ariel to break away from Bayit Yehudi and following Yoni Chetboun’s example. Chetboun has announced he is breaking from Bayit Yehudi because of the lack of Daas Torah in the decision-making process, signaling he hopes to team up with former Shas leader Eli Yishai who launched his own party on Monday night.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
We must do whatever the Rabbonim say.
Tekuma claims that, unlike HaBayit HaYehudi, it is obligated to the political rulings of its rabbis. Tekuma’s rabbis have unequivocally instructed it to break off from HaBayit HaYehudi. Why is Tekuma then continuing the negotiation? Break off already.
Yagel — Decisions are never so easy they are dimensionally complex… There are many Rabbonim who give advice in the RZ world and Ariel is assessing the options where to accomplish the most.
Bennet does not understand that his party will lose big without the Tekuma group…he is no different from Likud then.
#3- In the interests of unity Bennett has made Tekuma some very generous offers – only to have Tekuma turn up their noses t each offer and demand more. Which is par for the course with them: Tekuma has run together with several parties over the years and has always ended up leaving them. While unity is very much to be desired the time has come to realize that Tekuma is just a serial divorcee and to move on without them. Maybe they will finally find happiness with Yishai and Chetboun. Halevai. They could do worse (and have in the past).
There are indeed many Rabbanim who give advice in the RZ world but Tekuma has stated that it is obligated to the rulings of a small group of them – ‘Rabbanei Tekuma’ – headed by harav Lior. Indeed, Tekuma trumpets this point as one of the major differences between it and Habayit Hayehudi. Nu, so then follow the ruling of harav Lior already.
As for the canard that without Tekuma Habayit Hayehudi is no different than the Likud – shame on you. The great majority of rabbanei hazionut hadatit openly support Habayit Hayehudi and the ideological foundations, goals and commitments of the two parties are very different indeed. Allow me to suggest that you read and compare the platforms of the two parties.