MKs consider leaving 2-week-old Habayit Hayehudi

Just two weeks after the establishment of the new right wing party, Habayit Hayehudi ("the Jewish Home"), a crisis is looming over the decision of its public council not to hold a primary vote to elect its list of Knesset candidates.

The Sunday night decision brought an angry response from MK Uri Ariel, a candidate for the number one spot on the list, who called it "wretched." MKs Zvi Hendel and Rabbi Yitzhak Levy were also angered by the decision.

Their associates said they were now considering their next steps in the party.

Sources close to Ariel said he was weighing running on a separate list together with MKS Arieh Eldad and Efi Eitam. Like Hendel, they were members of the National Union-National Religious Party, however, unlike Hendel and Levy, they did not join the new party.

The sources said people close to MK Zevulon Orlev, who is also seeking the number one slot, are behind the decision. The sources also said Orlev's people concealed from the council the presence of an agreement among the MKs on the list stating that there would be a primary.

Ariel published a subsequent clarification stating that he was not looking to split the party but to create unity, and called on Eldad, Eitam and National Union-NRP MK Eliyahu Gabbay, who joined Likud, to become members of the new right-wing party.

Nevertheless, Ariel's confidantes continue to say that the crisis is "serious" and threatens the future of the new party.

The council decision not to hold the primary was unanimous, including members who had been recommended for their position by Ariel.

Ariel himself had been staunchly opposed to a primary, but now he is said to believe that under the circumstances there should be a primary.

Over Ariel's protests, the council convened again yesterday and reiterated its decision not to hold a primary to elect its list.

The council said the chairman of Habayit Hayehudi and the list for the Knesset faction will be selected by the council based, among other things, upon recommendations from the public, which was invited to propose candidates for the Knesset and the chairman through the new party's Web site.

The search committee appointed by the public council consists, among others, of Maj. Gen. (res.) Ya'akov Amidror, Bar-Ilan department of political studies faculty member Dr. Asher Cohen, retired judge Sarah Frisch, Rabbi Eli Sadan, head of the Bnei David Pre-Military Academy in the West Bank settlement of Eli, and Brig. Gen. (res.) Yehuda Duvduvani.