Following the saga surrounding the meetings between Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made an effort to get the Charedi parties to agree to creating a unified bloc list. The Prime Minister spoke to Aryeh Deri head of the Shas party and Yaakov Litzman head of United Torah Judaism and asked them to wait on publishing their lists of candidates.

According to a report that appeared in BeChadrei Charedim, Netanyahu asked the party leaders to review the possibility of creating a unified Charedi party in an effort to gain extra votes and build more power within the Charedi voting population so that no votes are wasted and the party would have more power when creating an upcoming coalition.

Deputy Minister Litzman refused Netanyahu’s request outright, stating that central committee members for the party have already begun the process of officially submitting the list.

Once a list is submitted it may not be changed, hence a formal alliance between the two parties allowing them to run as one joint list is now impossible.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)