In an interview Thursday, Jewish Home MK Yoni Chetboun said that it was time for his party to withdraw from its alliance with Yesh Atid. Speaking to Israel Radio, Chetboun said that Finance Minister Yair Lapid “is leading the fight against the Torah world. I do not deny this, even for a moment, and I am one of those in the party who are opposed to this.”
While the alliance between the two parties has benefitted each to some extent, said Chetboun, the differences between them made a continuation of the alliance untenable. “We need to break this alliance, instead of continuing to develop a situation where we are dependent on a party whose agenda is civil, and not Jewish,” said Chetboun. The Yesh Atid Knesset delegation “are fine people on an individual level, but an alliance like this cannot stand the test of time.
“Right now it is unrealistic” to officially break from Yesh Atid, Chetboun said, because of politics and the projects both parties are working together on. “But we have begun discussing this inside Jewish Home Jewish Home,” said Chetboun.
Chetboun has made similar comments in the past. In late October he called to break ties with Yesh Atid, arguing, "They are causing great damage to the state of Israel, as well as the Jewish Home Party."
With his comments, Chetboun joins a growing list of Jewish Home MKs who have expressed discomfort with Yesh Atid. Last month party MK Moti Yogev said that Yesh Atid “needed to regret our alliance with Yesh Atid, because it makes us a party to the absence of hareidi (ultra-Orthodox) parties from the government, to lowering the amounts provided for child allowance payments by the National Insurance Institute, and to damaging Torah and Jewish studies.”