A number of Jewish Home MKs on Monday criticized the leadership of their party, saying the party leader Naftali Bennett and his close confidante, Ayelet Shaked, were allowing themselves to be “pushed around” by Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party. “Yesh Atid succeeds every week in dragging us into another argument on religion and state issues,” the MKs said, “This takes up our time and energy and does not allow us to work on the things we were elected to do, such as lowering the cost of housing and making things more affordable.” The same applied to the negotiations being held by Tsipi Livni, the MKs said; the re just wasn't enough time to deal with Yesh Atid's agenda and the agenda they were elected to fulfill, the MKs said. “We hope that Jewish Home will begin to lead the agenda, and not be dragged behind Yesh Atid,” they said. Several months ago, Jewish Home MKs decided that any issue of state and religion that went against the stances held by the Chief Rabbinate and Religious Affairs Minister Eli Ben Dahan would be automatically vetoed by the party. “In reality, the party has backed down on this when it comes to confronting Yesh Atid,” the MKs said. In response, the party said that “it's fine for these MKs to comment anonymously, but it would be better if they openly filed laws in the Knesset or made policy recommendations at party meetngs.”
