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Sunday, July 21, 2019
Netanyahu reportedly urging Peretz not to give Shaked top spot in right-wing union
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing Education Minister Rafi Peretz not to step aside as leader of the Union of Right-Wing Parties for Ayelet Shaked, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Shaked, a former justice minister, is expected to announce this evening she’ll take over as leader of the New Right party from Naftali Bennett ahead of Knesset elections in September. Ahead of the announcement, Peretz called on Shaked and Bennett to hold negotiations on allying with URWP to form a joint bloc of national-religious factions.
According to Kan, Netanyahu spoke by phone with Peretz three times today in an effort to prevent URWP from uniting with the New Right.
The report says Netanyahu tried to convince Peretz that allying with Shaked would not cause the party to win more seats in September’s election, even though polls have indicated it would.
The prime minister is instead pushing Peretz to again team up with Itamar Ben Gvir of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, a merger Netanyahu brokered before elections in April.
Separately, the Ynet news site reported that Netanyahu’s wife Sara recently told Peretz’s wife Michal that her husband should not cede the top spot in a right-wing alliance to Shaked.
Sara Netanyahu is reported to have a deep disdain for Shaked, who along with Bennett worked for Netanyahu when he was opposition leader.
The Times of Israel Community.