Jewish Home central committee
Jewish Home central committeeYoni Kempinski

Itay Grank, who leads the "Kocheinu B'achduteinu" (lit. "our strength is in our unity") initiative, threatened on Monday to work to gather the party to hold primaries, even without its leaders' consent.

"The Jewish Home leadership announced this morning that it intends to keep the list, in a blatant disconnect from the public," Grank wrote in a letter Monday morning.

"According to the Jewish Home's guidelines, only the chairman and the chairman of the president can gather the party's center in such a short time, so this week is the crucial week for members of the Jewish Home Center. Will they show responsibility and leadership and pressure the party's leadership to hold a vote on unifying the Religious Zionist parties and holding open primaries? Or will they try to lead processes in which, once again, only they vote, in an attempt to preserve their own power, instead of allowing the wisdom of the public to win out?

"I am certain that members of the Jewish Home will vote in favor of uniting the parties and holding open primaries - that's what they've told members of the National Union all these years. Because of the tight deadlines, we expect them to use every means to push for a vote this week.

"We are working right now in every area in order to ensure that today, an invitation will be sent to members of the Jewish Home so to come vote this week. If the party leadership does not announce a gathering by this evening, we will gather on Thursday at 8:00p.m. on our own, to vote and present the Religious Zionist and ideological right-wing party, and we will fund it with the help of the public. At the same time, we are pressuring [Former Justice Minister] Ayelet Shaked to join us.

"Yesterday, she received thousands of messages, thanks to you, which called on her to join. The goal is that by the end of the week, all four players will meet for a initial start-up meeting and to join the process. We have already begun working on a site and on holding the elections.

"A poll by Kipa showed that over 80% of the public wants open primaries and a single party, and only a few want to see them running as two parties. We will do everything in order to express the will of the public. This time, only the public will decide!"