The appointment of MK Rafi Peretz as Jerusalem Affairs minister may be against the law, since the former Yamina lawmaker never officially dissolved his alliance with the right-wing Yamina party, which remains in the opposition, Zman Yisrael, the Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, has found.
Peretz — who led the Jewish Home faction in Yamina — is still officially listed as part of Yamina, it finds.
That means he’s considered a defector from the party, and under Israeli law, those who abandon their respective political parties cannot be appointed ministers for the remainder of the Knesset term.
The reason for withholding the Yamina-Jewish Home split may be financial, since it will cost the parties NIS 160,000 — or could signal a hope that Yamina will eventually be folded into the governing coalition.
Peretz’s spokesperson is surprised by the oversight and tells Zman it would be looked into. Yamina doesn’t respond to the report.
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