After the statements from Bayit Yehudi party leader Naftali Bennet that he will not secure slots in the lineup for Ichud Leumi faction members, Uri Ariel signals he will run alone in the next Knesset elections.

Speaking with Reshet Bet Radio on Tuesday morning 10 Tammuz, Ariel explained that if what Bennet announced is the case, his faction will go it alone in the next elections. He did not address rumors that he made sign a deal with Eli Yishai and his Yachad party.

Bennet announced that if Rabi Yitzchak Levy and Ayelet Shaked of Bayit Yehudi have to compete in primaries, then there is no reason that Ariel and MK Smotrich of the Ichud Leumi faction will not have to. Bennet expressed confidence that if they compete in the primaries they will fare well, but he is unwilling to secure their slots as he did in the previous elections.

Ariel stated, “Naftali, I respect you. You have excellent abilities and you have proven this. We never asked you to secure our position or about your primaries. We simply requested uniting as we are today. Why is Ichud Leumi required today? Take for example the Kosel deal and how Shabbos would appear in the eyes of such people and others including by you and check for example what is said regarding the Giyur Bill for and against. There are differences which must be realized in the form of dialogue”.

Ariel, like Smotrich, repeated the message that he was not asking for a secured position, but rather a joint run by two parties: “I say clearly: We have a party called the Ichud Leumi. Imagine that the prime minister is calling on Lieberman to join into a single faction. There is precedent. With all due respect to Bennett, this is an answer that, at best, I say is inappropriate, and I have no interest in making things worse but to the contrary, I have an interest in dialogue.

Ariel insists there are necessary differences between their parties but it works and remaining uniting has advantageous.

He then responded to comments by Bennet that if they do not want the way of Bayit Yehudi they can go it alone. Ariel stated, “Please, if this is the conclusion, I insist that we talk first, sit down and decide, we know that this could be a possibility because he is briefing.”

“Many of the media experts predicted that we will not pass the threshold [to enter Knesset], and I know that the threshold has risen but we are not there, and because we are not there we have the option of unity as we are today.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)