Eli Yishai
Eli YishaiPhoto by Aharon Krohn/Flash90

The Jewish Home has turned down an offer by the Yahad party to form a joint list for the March 2nd elections, refusing Yahad’s conditions for a joint run.

Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Rafi Peretz and Jewish Home secretary-general Nir Orbach had reached out to Yahad party chairman Eli Yishai – a former Interior Minister who split off from Shas in 2014 – to discuss the possibility of an election alliance.

Yahad, which narrowly failed to cross the threshold in 2015 despite its alliance with Otzma Yehudit, had considered running as part of the Union of Right-Wing Parties in the April 2019 election, but ultimately refused the Union’s offer, running independently before dropping out on the eve of the election.

The party did not run in the September 2019 election.

Yishai expressed interest in running with the Jewish Home, which has formed an alliance with Otzma Yehudit. The Yahad chairman conditioned his joining the alliance, however, demanding that his faction receive two spots on the Knesset slate; one in the top four, and one in the top eight positions.

According to a report by Walla Wednesday, the Jewish Home refused Yishai’s demand.

The deadline for registering party lists for the election is Wednesday night.