Yesh Atid puts kibosh on partnering with Otzma Yehudit on local level

Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid is forbidding branches of the party from joining any local council in which the far-right Otzma Yehudit is also a member, the faction says on X.

Yesh Atid has dozens of branches around the country, rivalling the Labor party as the flagship of the center-left in cities around the country.

The statement demands that local factions entering a coalition insist on an agreement committing to not add Otzma Yehudit to the coalition.

“Our goal is to build local coalitions with liberal representatives who will safeguard local authorities as strong bastions of liberal democracies working for their citizens,” Lapid is quoted saying in the tweet.

While the idea of a Yesh Atid alliance with the extreme right Otzma Yehudit on the national level seems farfetched, local political dynamics can sometimes create strange bedfellows.