Yamina’s Peretz splits party to join government, but posting still up in the air

Yamina MK Rafi Peretz walked away from his right-wing alliance to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Thursday, but his exact posting in the new coalition remained unclear, as the premier worked to balance the far-right lawmaker’s demands with those from members of his own Likud party.

Peretz initially accepted the offer to bolt Yamina in exchange for being appointed Jerusalem affairs and national projects minister, but Netanyahu later sought to convince him to accept a newly created post of “minister for settlement affairs,” Likud sources told The Times of Israel.

This would apparently mean turning the Settlement Division — a body under the World Zionist Organization that was established in 1971 to promote settlement beyond the Green Line but that has since expanded its operations to within Israel proper as well — into an entire cabinet ministry, with questionable authority and budget.

Peretz flatly rejected that offer and has threatened to bolt to the opposition if Netanyahu does not name him Jerusalem affairs minister as initially promised, the Kan public broadcaster reported. However, Netanyahu has also promised the position to Likud MK David Amsalem. It was also not clear whether Peretz would be welcomed back into Yamina if he were to refuse to join the government given his decision to abandon the party just hours earlier.

The move by the outgoing education minister and former IDF chief rabbi was met with anger among some of his Yamina allies, who were shunted to the opposition after failing to cut a deal with the Likud on ministerial portfolios.

Talks between the parties collapsed earlier this week, with Yamina leader Naftali Bennett accusing Netanyahu of deliberately edging him out, while Likud has berated Bennett for what it described as excessive political demands that did not align with Yamina’s mere six Knesset seats.

A statement from Bennett’s spokesman confirmed that Peretz had split off from Yamina and wished him luck. There was no confirmation on the ministry position from Likud or Peretz.

Yamina member Bezalel Smotrich took a dig at Peretz for accepting the position and leaving the party behind. On Twitter, he posted without comment a photo of a Mitsubishi key. This was a pointed reference to former Likud MK Alex Goldfarb, who dropped his opposition to the 1993 Oslo Accords after being promised a deputy minister position, in what was dubbed the ”Mitsubishi Deal” because he got a government car along with his appointment.

Yamina was an unwieldy amalgam of several right-wing parties that merged before the September 2019 election, dissolved a month later, and re-formed a joint ticket ahead of the March 2020 vote. The parties had run separately in the April 2019 vote, with Peretz’s Union of Right Wing Parties picking up five seats while Bennett’s New Right failed to enter parliament.

Peretz, a former army chief rabbi with no political experience, was chosen last year to lead Jewish Home after Bennett and Ayelet Shaked left the party to create the New Right as a more secular right-wing alternative.

In January 2020, Peretz memorably reneged on a political deal with the far-right Otzma Yehudit to rejoin Yamina, buckling to pressure by Netanyahu and other national religious officials. The far-right Otzma Yehudit ended up running alone and falling under the Knesset threshold.

“Those who urged Rafi Peretz to stab a knife in the backs of his political partners the first time should not complain when he adopts the method for a second time,” tweeted Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir. “Bennett, Shaked, Smotrich — if there had been a real merger, there would have been a [majority right-wing] government of 61 [lawmakers], but you preferred to be divisive. I hope the people of Israel won’t pay the price.”

Shortly before Peretz moved to sign a coalition deal, Bennett in a Facebook post lamented that Netanyahu “has chosen to get rid of Yamina, which served as his national backbone.”

In a Facebook post after the collapse of negotiations with Likud, he claimed Netanyahu has chosen “a path that is not right-wing. A path without sovereignty, without governance, without a national posture.” He asserted he did not seek power in his coalition talks with Likud, but rather “to have influence.” But he said the prime minister “communicated with us only through video clips and tweets.”

In response, Likud said that “had Bennett received the health portfolio [as he demanded], he would have said it was a right-wing dream government.”

“In the first election, Bennett did not pass the electoral threshold and wasted votes on the right.  In the third election — just for the sake of chaos — Bennett opted to take his six right-wing seats to the opposition with [Yesh Atid leader Yair] Lapid and [Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor] Liberman instead of joining a government that will lead a historic course of sovereignty,” the ruling party said in a statement.

“The Bennett era is over,” it declared.

Bennett and Netanyahu have been coalition allies since 2013, but the personal relationship between them has been rocky. Bennett had notably sparred with Netanyahu regarding military action in Gaza and at one point issued an ultimatum demanding the defense portfolio, which he later backed down from.

He later became caretaker defense minister, a post he will give up Thursday evening, and has pushed for greater say over the nation’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

One of Yamina’s main issues has been pushing for annexation of parts of the West Bank, a move that the new government is seen as likely to pursue in any case.

The government composed of Likud, Blue and White, Labor, Gesher, United Torah Judaism and Shas was set to be sworn in Thursday evening. It will see Netanyahu and Blue and White’s Benny Gantz share the premiership, with the latter serving as defense minister for the first 18 months.

Yesh Atid-Telem leader Yair Lapid — Gantz’s former Blue and White ally — was set to become opposition leader. Also in the opposition were the Joint List, left-wing Meretz, right-wing Yisrael Beytenu and right-wing Yamina.

The coalition will bring to an end 18 months of political turmoil, with three inconclusive elections.