Rafi Peretz ignores politics

Peretz, 64, also announced that he is retiring as party leader and will not run in the upcoming primary schools.

Israel goes to the polls in March for the fourth time in two years after the coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz failed with a state budget, following to the dissolution of the Knesset under Israeli law.

“Choosing a new leader for Jewish Home and updating the party face is crucial at this time,” Peretz wrote on Facebook Tuesday.

“I came to a party in crisis, a party that was seeking leadership after leaving its previous leadership without prior warning. Along the way I had to make difficult decisions… I did this to save religious Zionism and not allow the right to be ruined by loss [Knesset] seats, ”he said.

“This decision was not an easy one. I believe that religious Zionism must play a role in the leadership of the state, especially in times of coronavirus crisis. “

His tenure at Peretz comes after a possible union with Yamina, the relatively new party led by former Jewish Home Leader Naftali Bennett.

Bennett had called for Peretz to resign as a requirement for any alliance that saw both parties running together in the upcoming elections.

Jewish Home ran in the March 2020 elections as part of an alliance with Yamina, but ended the partnership to join the formation of the government in May 2020. Under Bennett, Yamina joined the opposition.

“We are negotiating with Yamina to run together and bring unity back to religious Zionism,” the Jewish Home said in a statement Monday.

“The talks with Bennett are kept in a good position, with the intention of uniting the ranks and working for the people of Israel, the State of Israel and the Israeli Torah as before.”

Peretz entered politics in 2019, three years after retiring as a top IDF rabbi with high brigade status.