Members of Israel's ruling party divided amid coalition talks

Members of the Likud party, which received 31 of the Israeli parliament's 120 seats in recent elections, are divided over whether to welcome the religious Habayit Hayeudi (Jewish Home) party into the coalition. Habayit Hayeudi, a religious and right-wing party, won 12 seats in the Jan. 22 elections and is a potential partner in the coalition to be erected by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Following the election results, Netanyahu started conversing with different politicians in order to form a coalition and a new government to rule Israel. Netanyahu is most likely to choose Yesh Atid, the center party which became the second largest in the elections with 19 seats, into his coalition. Another potential candidate is Habayit Hayeudi, which won 12 seats. Since there may be a problem for ultra-Orthodox parties willing to join cabinet seats with the pro-secular Yesh Atid party, Habayit Hayeudi members are regarded as valuable players for the upcoming coalition. The decision of whether to include the party in the coalition has divided Likud members, according to Israeli news outlets. Naftali Bennet, leader of Habayit Hayeudi, has been successful mainly to do with his charisma, threatening several Likud members who fear he may impair the ruling party from within, the Ynet website cited a top Likud member as saying on Sunday. However, on the other side, there are members who argue that leaving him out of the future government would be a bad idea. " Turning our backs on Bennet would be a mistake," a Likud member told the news website, "Especially if it appears the reason for it is the rift between Bennet and Netanyahu's wife." Bennet headed Netanyahu's chambers in 2008 and 2009 when the latter was the opposition leader, but he left reportedly after a major clash with Netanyahu's wife Sarah. Netanyahu suspected that Bennet was behind the leaks to Israeli media about the couple's spending and trips abroad. "This rift isn't a good reason to leave him out to dry. Our best option would be to form a coalition with Bennet, with (Yesh Atid leader) Yair Lapid and with the ultra-Orthodox parties," the top Likud member added. "If we leave them out now, they'll hold a grudge, as well as out consistency. We have the same voters' base. They should be allowed in," another Likud member told the website. However, Ha'aretz daily quoted an objector as saying that " Bennet is most likely to undercut Netanyahu from within the government." The same source said Likud would gain by making a coalition with Lapid, the ultra-Orthodox parties and other center parties like Tzipi Livni's party and Kadima, which together got nine seats, and excluding Bennet, whose party may disrupt any attempt to restart the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. "If that's the coalition he'll prefer to stay in the opposition. That would hurt him in the long run, as he needs governmental experience as a newcomer," the Likud member added.