BREAKING NEWS

Orbach endorses Bennett in Habayit Hayehudi race

The divides inside Habayit Hayehudi deepened on Wednesday when MK Uri Orbach endorsed former Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria head Naftali Bennett in the race for the leadership of the religious Zionist party.
The party's three Knesset members now each back different candidates in the September 4 leadership race. Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz and MK Zevulun Orlev back themselves, and Orbach supports Bennett.
Orbach said one of the reasons for his endorsement of Bennett was that the constant infighting between Hershkowitz and Orlev had harmed the party. Orlev has said that if he does not win the primary, he would quit politics.
But the main reason Orbach said he supported Bennett was that he was impressed by the 40-year-old hi-tech millionaire and former adviser to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and that he believed the party needed younger leadership.