The public committee charged with selecting a leader for the Jewish Home (HaBayit HaYehudi) party announced Thursday that it will not pick any of the party's current Members of Knesset for the position. One of the three remaining candidates is currently abroad; the committee will issue a final decision when he returns next Monday.

The decision narrows the field to the following candidates: Rabbi Avi Vurtzman, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan and Rabbi Daniel Hershkovitz. Rabbi Vurtzman is head of the MiBreishit organization and Deputy Mayor-elect of Be'er Sheva, Rabbi Ben-Dahan is head of the Rabbinical courts, and Rabbi Hershkovitz is a professor, a former dean at the Technion and the rabbi of the Ahuza neighborhood of Haifa.