Rabbi Rafi Peretz
Rabbi Rafi PeretzYossi Zilger

Officials close to the dean of a prominent Religious Zionist yeshiva have warned the United Right that they will drop support for the party if it runs on a joint ticket with the New Right party of former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and ex-Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

Aides to Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau, a student of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and dean of the Har Hamor Yeshiva in Jerusalem, informed United Right chief MK Rafi Peretz that they would drop support of his party if it formed an alliance with the New Right for the September election.

According to a report by Reshet Bet, Rabbi Tau himself said that he cast a blank ballot in the April 9th election, though the yeshiva’s other dean, Rabbi Amiel Sternberg, and most of its students, did vote for the United Right.

Peretz’s office refused to comment on the report.

On Tuesday, Bennett and Shaked met to discuss their options for the next election, slated for September 17th.

Sources close to the two told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper that Shaked would likely return to the New Right party and would head the party, but has yet to make a final decision on the matter.

Bennett has already announced that the New Right party will not run alone in the elections and that there will be alliances with other parties called "technical blocs" to ensure that the party passes the electoral threshold and that votes for the right are not wasted.

It is believed that former minister Shaked, who has declared her desire to run in the upcoming elections, will try to unite the New Right party with the United Right party and ask to head the list.

Polls conducted last week showed that Shaked is more popular than Rabbi Rafi Peretz, Naftali Bennett, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Moshe Feiglin. Rabbi Peretz, who now heads the United Right party, has made clear that he would not give up the leadership under any circumstances.