Peri hammers final nail into alliance between Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi

Shaked: Left having tough time because its partner for peace ran away; Herzog calls for Livni, Lapid to leave government

By LAHAV HARKOV
Yaakov Peri 370 (photo credit: Knesset)
Yaakov Peri 370
(photo credit: Knesset)
Bayit Yehudi has delusional ideas, Science and Technology Minister Ya’acov Peri said on Saturday of the party that used to have an alliance with his party, Yesh Atid.
“Yesh Atid doesn’t have an alliance with the Bayit Yehudi,” Peri said on Channel 2’s Meet the Press.
Peri blasted Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s party over its stances on negotiations with the Palestinians.
“There is an abyss between Yesh Atid and the Bayit Yehudi, which has made delusional proposals and tried to sabotage negotiations, on both diplomatic issues and religion and state,” Peri said.
The two parties formed an alliance before the coalition was formed last year, forcing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s hand into including both of them in his government. The party’s chairmen, Yair Lapid and Bennett, formed a close partnership at the time, leading them to be nicknamed “brothers,” but it deteriorated over differences in opinion on religious and diplomatic affairs.
Bayit Yehudi faction chairwoman Ayelet Shaked said that “every Saturday on Meet the Press another left-wing minister attacks Bayit Yehudi."
“You know what it’s like to build a career on having a partner for peace [in the Palestinians] and then the partner runs away? It’s tough for them. Maybe they need a Plan B,” she quipped.
Similarly, a Bayit Yehudi spokesman said “the Left should try to keep its cool even when it’s in crisis.”
Also on Saturday night, opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) called for Yesh Atid and Hatnua to leave the government since it decided to halt peace talks.
Both Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (chairwoman of Hatnua) and Finance Minister Lapid said in the past that their parties would only remain in a government that negotiates with the Palestinians, but both blamed the latest round of talks’ failure on the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement signed last week.
By staying in the government, Livni and Lapid are strengthening Bayit Yehudi and settlement construction, Herzog said.
“Livni and Lapid have to leave the government and take alternative diplomatic action with a large bloc [of MKs] that is prepared to go to 1967 lines with land swaps and settlement blocs,” he said.


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