UTJ faction meeting attended by PM Netanyahu
UTJ faction meeting attended by PM NetanyahuNo credit

Senior figures in the haredi United Torah Judaism party are blaming the Yamina party for not helping Benjamin Netanyahu form a government.

"Transferring the Finance Ministry to [Avigdor] Liberman is a hate crime and a moral injustice, for which there is no forgiveness. Bennett should see how much Lapid, his intended ‘Alternate Prime Minister’, is trying to remove from himself the disgrace of the past, and understand that there are boundaries that one does not cross. The step taken by Bennett and Shaked means the destruction of tradition and a fatal blow to the religion of Israel. This is a true alarm to the right and to the religious public, Mr. Bennett is carrying out Disengagement 2 in Israel," senior officials in UTJ were quoted by Kan News as having said.

Bennett has rejected the attacks against him and noted that Netanyahu has no government with or without him.

"I did not ask Netanyahu for the post of Prime Minister but for a government, and unfortunately he does not have that because [Bezalel] Smotrich burned all the bridges for a right-wing government," Bennett said at a Yamina faction meeting held on Monday.

"Our overarching goal is to form a government, and prevent another round of elections," Bennett said. "My first priority was and remains a right-wing government. I know it disappoints a lot of people, sometimes those on the left, but I am a right-wing man and I do not intend to change. In order to form a right-wing government, we are willing to consider things we never thought we would reach. But I repeat: The obstacle to a right-wing government is not Yamina."