Eli Yishai's new political party, Yachad - Ha'am Itanu, has joined with the hard right-wing neo-Kahanist Otzma Yehudit Party to form a joint list for the upcoming Knesset elections.
Above: Eli Yishai
Sefardi Haredi Renegade Party Joins Up With Hard Right-Wing Ashkenazi Racist Party
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Eli Yishai's new political party, Yachad - Ha'am Itanu, has joined with the hard right-wing neo-Kahanist Otzma Yehudit Party to form a joint list for the upcoming Knesset elections, Israeli media reported.
MK Yoni Chetboun, the Likud Party rebel who was supposed to be Yishai’s #2, threatened today to leave the party over the Kahanists inclusion on Yishai’s list.
But Chetboun stayed after reportedly being offered four spots for Zionist Orthodox candidates in the list’s top ten. Polls reportedly show the joint list would get seven Knesset seats if the election were held today.
Baruch Marzel, the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Knesset aid and member of Otzma Yehudit, was placed fourth on the list by Yishai.
Otzma Yehudits head, Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, is not on the list, apparently because Yishai’s associates demanded that he not be.
Final Knesset lists for all parties must be submitted by 10 p.m. today.
The election is in March.
In order to be placed on the list, Marzel first had to promise not to go on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the entire upcoming Knesset term. But this demand was removed before the final deal between the two parties was made.
Yesterday, Ben-Ari explained why he was gave up up on his spot on the united Knesset list to Marzel.
"Putting Marzel in my place comes due to a demand of Rabbi [Menachem] Mazuz's house [i.e., Mazuz’s advisors, aides and close hangers-on; Mazuz, a Sefardi haredi rabbi, is Yishai’s personal rabbi and Yishai’s party’s spiritual leader.] We didn't see it as a reason to delay entry to the Knesset, because of a personal issue. Baruch Marzel's presence is a great victory over haters of Israel. Baruch is a faithful student of Rabbi [Meir] Kahane, and was his aide in the Knesset. His return to the Knesset as an MK is a great victory. I'll be happy when Baruch stands before the enemies,” Ben-Ari said according to a report in Arutz Sheva.
Kahane, the founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach Party, and his party were banned from Knesset due to incitement to racist violence. He was assassinated by an Islamist fundamentalist terrorist in New York City two decades ago.
Yishai is the former chairman of the Sefardi haredi Shas Party founded by the late supreme Sefardi haredi leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. He left Shas two months ago after clashing with the party’s current chairman, Aryeh Deri.