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Bayit Yehudi will not remain in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government if it officially adopts peace proposals presented by US Secretary of State John Kerry, even if reservations are presented, party leader Naftali Bennett said in closed conversations Wednesday. Ahead of Kerry's visit, Bennett spoke multiple times this week with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel's negotiators in diplomatic talks with the Palestinians. He insisted on receiving as much information as possible about America's proposal immediately after Kerry meets with Netanyahu. "Bennett is up to speed and has done his homework," a source close to him said. "He will not...

Economics minister and Jewish Home leader says Israel cannot ‘sit idly by’ while world allows Iran to be 6 weeks from the bomb Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) said Saturday that a “bad deal” with Iran on curbing its nuclear program would “increase the need for Israeli [military] action.” “If there will be a deal which would allow Iran to have the ability to ‘break out’ and build a bomb within six weeks, we cannot sit idly by in this situation and we will examine all the options,” Bennett told Channel 2 Saturday evening.

The idea of a Palestinian state has run its course and Israel must seek another solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) said Monday, joining a growing number of coalition members who have recently expressed firm opposition to the two-state solution. “The idea of forming a Palestinian state in Israel has reached a dead end,” Bennett said at a meeting of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of Jewish communities in the West Bank. Never in the history of the Jewish people has so much energy been invested in “something so pointless,” and “we...

The intended Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, attacked the partnership between Bayit Yehudi head MK Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid head MK Yair Lapid at week's end. "The disagreements between me and the Bayit Yehudi are very deep," Livni told Channel 10. "Regrettably, the pact between Lapid and Bennett inserted those elements into the government." "I hope that on the diplomatic subjects, Lapid won't adopt Bennett's views," she added. "I expect that in this government, at least on diplomatic matters, we will receive support from Bayit Yehudi and the pact will not lead to substantive issues being blocked. It is not...

The head of the Bayit Yehudi, Naftali Bennett, defended the #14 man on the party's Knesset list, Jeremy Gimpel, who came under attack as an extremist in TV's leftist Channel 2 at week's end. "I am proud of Jeremy Gimpel and of my entire list," Bennett told Channel 2's Dana Weiss in a Saturday night interview. The channel's Friday night newscast, a special weekly edition which sums up the week's events, featured an attack on Gimpel by ultra-leftist pundit Amnon Abramovich. Abramovich showed viewers a Youtube video of Gimpel speaking before a Christian group and raising the theoretical possibility that...

Tzipi Livni, leader of Hatnua, harshly attacked Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, in a behind-the-scenes incident that took place just before a televised interview pitted them against each other at week's end. According to Walla! News, the two rode the elevator together before appearing on Nissim Mishal's show on Channel 2. Bennett initiated the conversation, telling Livni she had gone too far with a Facebook status in which she referred to a report that said Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir, was going to vote for Bennett. Livni allegedly told him: "I don't regret it; I don't even want to talk...

Tzipi Livni, who chairs the Hatnua party, slammed on Wednesday what she termed "the extremists" in her former party, the Likud. Livni, who visited a bar in Tel Aviv, warned that a coalition between these Likud extremists and the Jewish Home would be a threat to Israel. "Extremists are taking over our lives and if we do not stop them today - we'll end up in a situation that is dangerous for Israel," Livni said. "These extremists are now in the Likud in the form of (Moshe) Feiglin, (Tzipi) Hotovely, (Yariv) Levin and others - they are in the same...

..... These are very interesting elections. We all know who the next prime minister will be. The question is what kind of government he will form, will it be left or right? Will it be a national Jewish Zionist coalition with us as a major party or will it be a leftist one? We have to be strong enough to make the decision to form a nationalistic coalition the only feasible one. Q. What about those who say you are extremists? Bennett: Quite the opposite. We are the real "centrists"– loving our heritage is centrist, loving the Land of Israel...

The latest polls showed that last weekend's dust-up over Naftali Bennett's stance on how IDF soldiers who are uncomfortable with immoral orders are supposed to react has not had a negative impact on the Bayit Yehudi party's standing with the public. If anything, the controversy seems to have helped the party's prospects. Bayit Yehudi is now polling to come in as the third largest party in the Knesset, and is closing in to become the second largest. The party, headed by Bennett, continues to nip at the heels of the joint Likud-Yisrael Beytenu list, and the latest weekly poll by...

Tzipi Livni, who is running for Knesset at the head of an independent party, blamed Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett for the violence at the Oz Tzion outpost near Beit El Friday. "Bennett and the extremist rabbis led people to that hilltop on purpose, in order to create friction with IDF soldiers and a situation in which they would refuse orders," Livni wrote on her Facebook page. "These extremists led the people there on Sabbath eve in the knowledge that our children, the IDF soldiers, would have to evict them," she explained. "Netanyahu, who continues to wink toward the extremist...

The weekend media storm over Naftali Bennett's position on how IDF soldiers should deal with orders to throw Jews out of their homes does not seem to have hurt the Bayit Yehudi chairman – and in fact, the party is doing better than ever. Several polls showed that Bayit Yehudi has pulled ahead of Shas, and with its 12-13 seats (depending on the poll), the party will be the third largest, after Labor and Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu. Auguring the party's popularity is the fact that Naftali Bennett's Facebook page has now achieved 100,00 “likes,” the seal of approval Facebook users grant...

Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett responded Monday night to the uproar created by comments he made last week regarding the expulsion of Jews from their homes. Referring to Netanyahu's campaign, Bennett told Channel 2 that "a national camp does not attack a national camp. It is completely unnecessary to play in the internal field. We have to take votes away from Livni." "This policy debate is fine," said Bennett, "but to get up in the morning and see a flood of anonymous personal negative ads is not right." "Netanyahu prefers to surround himself with weak parties who have no influence...