Rightists want Aryeh Deri to run with them

MKs Schneller, Amsalem also targeted as possible candidates.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
The leaders of the National Union and Habayit Hayehudi parties want to build a joint list for the next election that will include former Shas leader Aryeh Deri and current MKs from several parties, officials from the two right-wing parties said on Wednesday.
In a story first reported by Zev Kam, political correspondent for the new Galei Israel radio station, Habayit Hayehudi leader Daniel Hershkowitz and National Union head Ya’acov Katz have already held contacts with lawmakers from every Zionist Knesset faction other than Labor and Meretz.
“We have held talks with MKs from the coalition and the opposition about joining this new alignment,” Hershkowitz told the radio station.
“The responses have been more positive than I expected. People were willing to seriously consider joining.”
Two MKs who reacted positively to the possibility of joining the new religious Zionist list were Kadima’s Otniel Schneller and Shas’s Haim Amsalem. Both legislators have feuded with their party heads and likely have no future with their current parties.
Other MKs who will be pursued by Hershkowitz and Katz include DiasporaAffairs Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Deputy Pensioners AffairsMinister Leah Ness (Likud), Likud MKs Tzipi Hotovely and Tzion Pinyan, Shas faction chairman Avraham Michaeli and Israel Beiteinu MK David Rotem.
But the most interesting name on their wish list is Deri, who intendsto return to politics ahead of the next election but has not announcedwhether he would come back to Shas or seek to form or join anotherpolitical framework.
Deri could not be reached for comment.