Peretz entering government as minister of Jerusalem affairs and heritage

With Peretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition will have 73 MKs.

By JEREMY SHARON
MK Rafi Peretz, 2019. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
MK Rafi Peretz, 2019.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi leader Rafi Peretz signed a coalition agreement overnight Friday.
Peretz will serve as minister of Jerusalem affairs and heritage, the post that was sought by two Likud ministers. Peretz will be responsible for religious Zionist education. Peretz will also join the Likud faction in the Knesset.
The move to join Netanyahu came after Peretz abandoned the Yamina alliance of right-wing religious parties and decided to join the new government instead of heading to the opposition benches.
Peretz decision to split from his party caused consternation amongst the party, although its leaders were somewhat reticent to strongly criticize him.
Peretz told his colleagues that he disagreed with their decision not to enter the coalition and that in a time of emergency, it is essential to take part in a unity government.
With Peretz, Netanyahu's coalition will have 73 MKs. The remaining five Yamina MKs will be in the opposition.
Reports emerged that Peretz was trying to merge Bayit Yehudi into the Likud party which would then cover part of the religious party’s sizeable debts, although senior party members and activists could not confirm this.
Following Peretz’s decision, Smotrich disparagingly tweeted a picture of a Mitsubishi car keys in reference to the ministerial cars that ministers are chauffeured in.
He also wrote on Facebook that Netanyahu was humiliating Peretz and disrespecting the religious-Zionist community at the same time, by allegedly backtracking on his promise of the Jerusalem ministry he made earlier Thursday, saying that after having treated Yamina poorly during the coalition negotiations he could have repaired the damage by giving Peretz a senior ministerial position.
“But Netanyahu so completely disregards the religious-Zionist community that is making Rabbi Rafi crawl all night and continues to humiliate him with the offer of some fake ministry for nothing affairs,” wrote the outgoing transportation minister.  
Eli Ben-Dahan, who served as a Bayit Yehudi MK from 2013 to the end of last government, strongly condemned Peretz’s decision however, describing it as a the latest in a long line of broken promises.
“Public representatives need to act with honor and respect agreements and pledges they make, Rabbi Rafi has not honored what he has committed to,” Ben Dahan told the Post.
Technically Peretz’s decision needs to be approved by the Bayit Yehudi central committee but there seems little chance he will convene it for this purpose.
It is possible that central committee members will appeal any failure to gain its approval to first the party court and then beyond to the state courts, but such a process looks unlikely to be successful.
Large numbers of central committee members have been furious with Peretz for months for refusing to allow a primary challenge to his leadership, refusing to allow primaries for the party list, and ejecting former MK Moti Yogev from the party list, amongst other perceived misdeeds.
On Thursday evening, Bennett, Smotrich and Shaked held a press conference where they further castigated Netanyahu, especially over what they claimed was the removal of clauses in the Likud’s coalition agreement with Blue and White to annex the settlements.
“Netanyahu promised time and again he would apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, it was the promise of the elections, but Gantz and Ashkenazi threatened Netanyahu and he capitulated and erased it from the foundational principles [of the coalition agreement],” said Bennett.
Bennett also attacked Netanyahu for what the failure to insist on reforms to the judicial system which Bennett and Yamina have strongly pushed.
“There was choice between Netanyahu and the right-wing bloc and Netanyahu chose Netanyahu,” said the Yamina leader.
The Likud flatly denied that the clause has been removed and said they would be going ahead with the annexation while Bennett would be sitting on the sidelines “with Lapid, Liberman, and Yazbek.”
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report. 


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