Last week Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan announced he is breaking from the Tekuma faction and running in the party’s primaries.

Bayit Yehudi is the party that used to be the NRP (National Religious Party). Its current makeup is composed of the NRP faction members and members of the Tekuma faction, which is headed by Minister of Housing Uri Ariel, who hold the number two slot in the party’s lineup.

Ariel is in the midst of negotiations with party leader Naftali Bennett. In the last elections, the members of Ariel’s faction were locked in position in the lineup and Ariel wants the same arrangement today.

From the perspective of party leader Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, polls show the party may increase to 20 seats. He therefore feels Ariel’s role is less critical and he wants to permit the slots to remain open for contenders in the party’s primaries. At present the two have not reached agreement and Ariel may break away from the party and run on his own or join with others seeking a new political home.

Ben-Dahan feels that his growing popularity after serving in his current posts will place him high enough on the list to become a minister instead of remaining as a deputy minister so he has bid his Tekuma faction farewell and prefers to take his chances running in the party’s primaries.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)