Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Rafi Peretz sent a letter to the party’s current members informing them of a “big membership drive of religious Zionists."
By GIL HOFFMANBayit Yehudi leader Rabbi Rafi Peretz(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The leaders of the Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid parties began membership drives this week, inviting the public to join their parties.Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Rafi Peretz sent a letter to the party’s current members informing them of a “big membership drive of religious Zionists” that will be organized by the party’s director-general Nir Orbach.In the letter, Peretz said he joined the government in order to have influence on US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan and because religious Zionism teaches the importance of national unity.“It is time to renew and upgrade Bayit Yehudi,” Peretz wrote.Orbach said that after the drive is complete, primaries would be held to elect the party’s leadership and then attempts would be made to unite with other religious Zionist parties. Peretz has agreed to a leadership race. One of the goals of the drive is to eliminate Yamina supporters before they conduct the race.Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid posted a video to his Facebook Story, calling upon young people to join the party and its youth wing.“If you are young and you care, Yesh Atid needs you,” Lapid said in the video. “Come change the world.”
