Miriam Peretz, the mother of Yashar Party MK Elyasaf Peretz, said in an interview with Kol Berama radio on Thursday that her son would leave the Knesset if his party were to sit with anti-Zionist Arab parties in the government.
"It will never happen that an Arab party decides whether to go to battle," Peretz, whose two sons, Uriel and Eliraz, fell in battle, said.
Asked about the possibility of her son changing sides, she answered: "There is pressure now too. They write to be and to him, and work in ways that I won't detail. One day, the things will come out."
Earlier in the day, Ruhama Hershkovitz, the mother of Sergeant Major (res.) Yossi Hershkovitz, who fell in battle during the war in Gaza, sent a letter to Peretz expressing pain and disappointment over her son's activities in the Knesset.
"I turn to you through deep pain, shock, and great disappointment. It is difficult to stand by and watch your son join a government that, in my opinion, gives space and support to elements that support terrorism," Hershkovitz wrote to Peretz.
She asked her to focus on the pain for the families who lost loved ones in the war. "Did you stop for a moment to think about what the meaning of such a move is for bereaved families? For the mothers who lost the most precious thing to them? For the families who paid the highest price?"
Hershkovitz said that her feelings were not just personal. "I lose sleep because of this reality, and I know that I'm not alone. Many families feel pain, disappointment, and confusion about what is happening."
She then addressed Peretz directly, noting that Peretz had also lost her sons, and expressed her disappointment in light of their shared bereavement. "Miriam, it is precisely from you, as a bereaved mother who knows firsthand the depth of grief, that I expected greater understanding and sensitivity toward the pain of the families."
Hershkovitz went on to ask: "Where is the sensitivity? Where is the moral responsibility? Where is the remembrance of the sons and daughters who gave their lives for the State of Israel?"
At the conclusion of the letter, she clarified that her appeal stemmed from personal pain and concern for the country's future, rather than hostility toward Peretz. "I am writing to you not out of hatred, but out of the pain of a mother who lost her son, and out of deep concern for the country and the values for which our children fought," Hershkovitz concluded.