Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party may be turning to the national religious public for support, the party's Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron indicated Friday - days after the party established a branch for its religious voters.
"There are many religious people who feel that the haredi national religious are taking over the national religious dialogue, and feel left without representation," Piron stated to NRG.
To that end, he said, Lapid's party is backtracking on its push to ensure public transport on Shabbat - a major platform for the left-wing parties in general and a controversial sticking point between the religious and secular communities in Israel.
"There will not be public transport on Shabbat," Piron affirmed.
Piron's statements follows less than two days after the party announced that it had established a special staff focusing on the national religious sector, in what is regarded as an attempt to steal votes from Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party.
The staff reportedly includes Piron, MK Aliza Lavie, and MK Elazar Stern who only joined the party this week, according to Channel 10.
The shift in focus may reflect the less-than-rosy future for Yesh Atid, which is currently projected to lose 11 seats in the 20th Knesset - from 19 seats in the previous government to just eight.