Bennett warns Bayit Yehudi primary voters not to be complacent

Bennett faces off against two candidates: Rabbi Yitzhak Zagha and Yonatan Branski, a former IDF colonel who headed the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Nahal Haredi unit

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: APRIL 26, 2017 00:32
Naftali Bennett (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Naftali Bennett
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett called upon the party’s 30,000 members to cast ballots in Thursday’s party leadership primary in video and audio messages he sent in Hebrew and English on Tuesday.
There will be 68 polling stations across the country that will be open from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The voting will be computerized, with a special mechanism for double-checking votes.
“I am asking you to leave your home, vote, and place your confidence in me,” Bennett said. “We in Bayit Yehudi are on the map now, thanks to you, because of the power you have given us.”
Bennett warned against being complacent. He is facing off against two candidates: Spirit of Jerusalem head Rabbi Yitzhak Zagha and Yonatan Branski, a former IDF colonel who headed the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Nahal Haredi unit and served as deputy head of the IDF’s Gaza Brigade.
Each of the candidates spent Tuesday campaigning.
Bennett was in the Druse sector, Branski in Ma’alot, and Zagha in Jerusalem.
Zaga called on Branski to quit the race in a Radio Kol Chai interview. When asked about polls saying neither challenger could beat Bennett, he said, “No one is a prophet.”
Branski said he is undaunted by the large budget Bennett is devoting to Election Day.
“I don’t have buses to bring voters, because I don’t have the money,” Branski said.
“We aren’t counting on buses, we are counting on people.”