BICOM

Tensions continued to simmer yesterday between coalition partners Yesh Atid and Jewish Home, with a number of disagreements between both parties continuing throughout the week.

Yesh Atid leader and Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Jewish Home leader, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett became unlikely allies during coalition talks following January’s election, pledging to work closely on issues of common ground. However, cracks have been evident in their informal alliance this week. On Sunday, in comments widely interpreted as a warning to Jewish Home, Lapid told a business conference in Tel Aviv, “I will do anything – anything – to prevent the failure of the talks. I will not let anyone cause the process to dissipate” adding “even if continuing in negotiations [with the Palestinians] means the coalition will change in some way.”

Yesterday, in a surprise move, four Yesh Atid members of the Knesset Finance Committee blocked the allocation of around £15million towards development in existing West Bank settlements, an issue of significant importance to Jewish Home. Although Yesh Atid MK Boaz Toporovsky cited a technical issue for preventing the transfer of funds, both Maariv and Yediot Ahronot report it was a response to Jewish Home’s opposition to Yesh Atid-backed legislation to grant greater equality to same-sex couples. In what appeared a tit-for-tat move, Jewish Home’s Finance Committee Chairman Nissan Slomiansky then blocked the transfer of funds to the Prime Minister’s Office for a variety of projects after Lapid cut the budget for foreign religious seminary students to study in Israel.

A further fault line between the two parties widened yesterday when Jewish Home’s Deputy Minister for Religious Services Eli Ben-Dahan said he would block a bill on reforming the process of filing for divorce, proposed by Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie. However, Jewish Home’s Minister for Pensioner Affairs Uri Orbach yesterday described the series of spats with Yesh Atid as a “passing storm.”