Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel, who currently heads the Ichud Leumi faction in Bayit Yehudi, joined the growing list of party members condemning Ministers Naftali Bennet and Ayelet Shaked for breaking away to launch the New Right party, leaving Bayit Yehudi with a NIS 22 million debt.

Ariel told the media, “I was surprised by the timing despite the rumors of a planned break. I understood it was happening via the press conference. Bennet phoned me an hour earlier to update me. The matter is ridiculous and not worthy of a response”.

He called their decision to make the break from the party secretly, at night, “crooked and screwed up”.

Regarding his bid for the party leadership against MK Betzalel Smotrich, he announces this is his last term, calling on Smotrich to sit back and wait a bit before trying to take control of the party. he feels that as the senior man, he is entitled to this.

A recent poll by the Srugim website shows Bayit Yehudi voters prefer Smotrich to run the party, earning 60% of the vote, as compared to Ariel with a mere 6%.

If Ariel is not elected to head the party, he signals he will retire from Knesset after 17 years of service. Should he succeed, he has set his eyes on the Finance Ministry portfolio in the next administration, to replace Moshe Kahlon.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)