Bennett has no plans to change Bayit Yehudi list

Bennett calls new list "excellent," says he is proud of it and everyone on it.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett at primary elections (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett at primary elections
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The Bayit Yehudi list will stay as it is, party leader Naftali Bennett said Friday.
Bennett called the new list “excellent” and said he is proud of it and everyone on it, sources close to him recounted.
Bennett warned his allies not to believe what they read in the press, after Friday morning’s papers included reports of him planning use his right to appoint two candidates to boost Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) Council foreign envoy Danny Dayan from 21st place to a realistic slot, or to appoint Tzohar rabbinical organization chairman Rabbi David Stav and former National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror.
The reports came after Bayit Yehudi members elected a list comprised of many incumbents and only two to three secular candidates in realistic spots.
Bayit Yehudi’s primary took place Wednesday, and the results came out Thursday morning.
The party leader was reelected with more than 90 percent of the vote, and will be followed on the candidates list by Construction Minister Uri Ariel, leader of Tekuma, a party running with Bayit Yehudi.
Next is MK Ayelet Shaked, a close ally of Bennett, who received more votes than any other primary candidate and moved ahead of the first slot reserved for a woman.
She is followed by other incumbents: Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben-Dahan, Knesset Finance Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky and Senior Citizens Minister Uri Orbach.
Then, in the seventh spot, is Yinon Magal, a journalist appointed by Bennett to a reserved spot, MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, Tekuma’s Bezalel Smotrich, MK Mordechai Yogev, Deputy Education Minister Avraham Wortzman, central committee member and Bennett confidant Nir Orbach and Rabbi Avihai Ronzki, a former IDF chief rabbi, who is also close to Bennett.
The 14th spot goes to Orit Struck, who is in Tekuma, and the 15th is saved for a female candidate from Bayit Yehudi. The next woman on the list is Yehudit Shilat, director of the Forum Takana against sexual abuse, who will skip over four men to get the slot.
Then comes Im Tirzu founder Ronen Shoval, who was enthusiastically endorsed by Bennett, in the last realistic spot according to many recent polls, followed by award-winning educator Sarah Eliash in the next slot reserved for women, and Tekuma’s MK Zevulun Kalfa.