Netanyahu convinces Haredi party backed by rabbi accused of sex offenses to drop out

The Achi (My Brother) party announces that it is dropping out of the election with just four days to go until polls open.

The party was not projected to pass the electoral threshold in any poll.

Achi was launched as a national party in June by disciples of the late Rabbi Yoram Abergel, from the southern city of Netivot, and its spiritual leader is Abergel’s son Haim Yosef Abergel, head of the late rabbi’s yeshiva network, who was arrested in August last year on suspicion of sexual offenses against young girls.

The Ynet news site publishes video of a phone conversation between Abergel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where the premier praises him for “truly caring for our people” and references an agreement reached between them.

The Likud party issues a statement noting that it reached a deal with the Achi party to appoint a representative of the party as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office “to advance our shared principles.”

Netanyahu has also been heavily pressing Ofer Winter’s People of Israel party and Moti Leitner’s Charedi Public Party to drop out over concerns that votes for the right-wing bloc will go to waste if the parties don’t enter the Knesset. Those parties have steadfastly refused the calls to exit the race.