Bayit Yehudi leader Rabbi Rafi Peretz must now decide whether or not to abandon his alliance with far-right Otzma in order to save his political career

New Right leader Naftali Bennett has strongly rejected the possibility of allowing the far-right Otzma Yehudit Party to join a right-wing, religious political alliance, and strongly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for pressuring him to take the Kahanist group on board. 

“I will not include someone on my electoral list who has a picture in his living room of a person who murdered 29 innocent people," said Bennett in a statement on Facebook Wednesday afternoon.

He was referring to Otzma leader Itamar Ben-Gvir who infamously has a picture of Baruch Goldstein, who carried out the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, on his living room wall. 

“This should be so self-evident that I am shocked that I need to explain it,” continued Bennett. 

“Imagine a US congressman who had picture of someone on his wall who killed 29 Jews in a synagogue. Does this sound logical?

“I don’t care how much I am pressured, it’s not even an option, it won’t happen. This is my final decision.”

Netanyahu has strongly pressured Bennett to accept Otzma, similar to the events of the April and September elections when the prime minister also strongly pressured the right wing parties to accept the extremist Kahanist party onto its joint list. Read more at JPost