The chairman of Torah Judaism refused at this stage to recommend the Prime Minister • The party is angry with Netanyahu due to his demonstrable support for Smutrich in the election, which according to party sources comes at their expense
Gafni and Netanyahu in the Knesset // Photo: Dudi Vaknin
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested today (Monday) that Torah Judaism pledge to recommend him to President Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, but party chairman MK Moshe Gafni has meanwhile refused.
Tomorrow, members of Degel HaTorah, the Lithuanian faction of Torah Judaism, Gafni, Uri Maklev and Yitzhak Fidnros will gather, and discuss their future.
As you may recall, the Torah banner is angry with Netanyahu, mainly because of his help with religious Zionism in the last election, which hit at the expense of Torah Judaism, which eventually received seven seats.
Last week, even before the final results were published, Minister Yaakov Litzman told Israel Today: "We have received seven seats so far (the final result of Torah Judaism - MT), this is not what we wanted and expected, Smutrich took a seat for us.
Netanyahu should have helped him, but not at our expense - I said this to the prime minister before the election.
I'm not happy with the result. "
Last Saturday, MK Gafni told Channel 12's "Meet the Press" program, referring to the possibility of a fifth election, and made it clear that his party would consider their steps carefully if Prime Minister Netanyahu did not have 61 recommenders.
If he does not have 61 supporters, we will consider our steps before we go to the fifth election, "he said.