Haredi Party Leader Refuses Netanyahu's Request to Withdraw from Election
Translated & summarized from Srugim by baba
Moti Leitner, chairman of the "Hacharedi Ha'am" party, rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to withdraw from the upcoming Knesset elections. Leitner met with Netanyahu six days before the vote, refusing the demand and citing a lack of commitment from established Haredi parties to support promised reforms. Netanyahu's campaign manager also offered Leitner a significant project management role in exchange for withdrawal, but no agreement has been reached.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Haredi party chairman Moti Leitner refused Prime Minister Netanyahu's demand to withdraw from the election.
- Netanyahu requested Leitner's withdrawal due to fears of splitting the right-wing bloc's votes.
- Leitner conditioned negotiations on guarantees from Shas and United Torah Judaism parties.
- The Likud campaign manager offered Leitner a large project role for his party's withdrawal.
- Asher Freidy and Rabbi David Leibl also refused to meet with Netanyahu.
Moti Leitner, chairman of the "Hacharedi Ha'am" party, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the latter's request, six days before the upcoming elections. Leitner refused Netanyahu's demand that he withdraw his party from the Knesset race. The meeting, which took place after midnight, saw Leitner explain to Netanyahu that there was no point in discussing operational steps as long as the established Haredi parties had not committed to supporting the reforms Netanyahu had promised the Haredi public.
Netanyahu had been exerting significant pressure on Leitner and his party to drop out of the election, fearing that their participation would split votes within the right-wing bloc, particularly among parties that might not pass the electoral threshold. In addition to meeting Leitner, Netanyahu also requested meetings with Asher Freidy, the party's second candidate, and Rabbi David Leibl, who is unofficially associated with the party. Both Freidy and Leibl declined Netanyahu's requests.
Earlier, it was reported that Zvika Brot, the Likud campaign manager, met with Leitner and offered him the position of a project manager for the Haredi sector, with a budget of hundreds of millions, in exchange for the party's withdrawal. No agreement has been reached so far, as Leitner is demanding guarantees from the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties that they will not obstruct his proposals if a government is formed. Leitner has made these guarantees a precondition for any further negotiations.
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