Bayit Yehudi chairman and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Rafi Peretz announced on Tuesday that he will not be running for the leadership of the party in the upcoming primaries and he is leaving political life for the time being.

“Choosing a new leader for Bayit Yehudi and renewal of the party is what is needed now,” stated Peretz.

Peretz’s announcement comes ahead of a possible merger of Bayit Yehudi with Yamina, headed by Naftali Bennett. Bennett had demanded Peretz’s resignation as a prerequisite for a merger.

Peretz split Bayit Yehudi from Yamina following the March 2020 election to accept a ministerial post in the government, a move that angered many of the party’s officials.

Bayit Yehudi director-general Nir Orbach and former MKs Moti Yogev and Eli Ben-Dahan are likely candidates to run for the leadership of Bayit Yehudi.

In other political news, another Blue and White member, Social Equality Minister Meirav Cohen, announced she is leaving the party on Tuesday and joining Yesh Atid. Cohen is the ninth Blue and White member to leave the party since the Knesset was dissolved last month.

With polls showing, that Blue and White may not pass the electoral threshold in the upcoming elections, the six remaining Blue and White members are pressing party chairman Benny Gantz to merge with Yamina, on the condition that the party list will not include the right-wing Betzalel Smotrich. A meeting between Bennett and Smotrich regarding a joint run failed to reach an agreement and some reports say Smotrich is splitting his party from Yamina and renaming his party as The Religious Zionist party.

If Blue and White does not merge with Yamina, it possible that Gantz may retire from politics altogether, Maariv reported.

Earlier this week, Adv. Michal Diamant, the granddaughter of the late prime minister Yitzchak Shamir, joined Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)