As the Jewish Home party continues to search for a successor to former chairman Naftali Bennett, who bolted from the faction earlier this month to form the New Right (HaYamin HaHadash) party, some party members are turning to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, urging her to return to the Jewish Home and take the reins in Bennett’s place. Shaked, who joined Bennett in splitting from the Jewish Home to establish the New Right, has been a close associate of Bennett’s since the two worked together in then-Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu’s office from 2006 to 2008, before going on to form the My Israel movement together. Despite Shaked’s ties with Bennett, some in the Jewish Home hope she can be lured away from the New Right and back to her former party. According to a report by Yediot Ahronot , senior party members have written to Shaked, offering her leadership of the party if she returns. The Justice Minister has thus far, however, declined the offer. “Shaked, together with Bennett, established the New Right and is determined to see it succeed,” the Justice Minister’s office said. “Having two separate parties will strengthen the ideological right.” Today, members of the National Union party, which ran jointly with Jewish Home and currently holds two of Jewish Home’s eight seats, will vote for National Union chairman and the faction’s Knesset list.
