lol... this is pretty funny...

Netanyahu giveth and Netanyahu taketh away

Just today PM Netanyahu successfully broke up Yamina by persuading MK Rav Rafi Peretz to break off and join the coalition by offering him the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs, even though he had already given it to MK Tzippi Hotovely. Peretz decided to take it, split off from Yamina, created a balagan upsetting many, and the world moves on.

Now, after the fact, Netanyahu wants to rescind his offer from Peretz. His Likud people are upset that it is being taken away from them and are making trouble for him. Netanyahu wants Peretz to give up the promised Jerusalem portfolio and accept a different meaningless portfolio instead that will be created for him. So far Peretz is acting tough, as of now, and refusing to give it up... but at the end of the day, what choice does he really have? Netanyahu does not need him - except  for to create an image - and he already broke off from Yamina so he can't really go back there.. so he's kind of stuck.

He might be able to call Netanyahu's bluff and keep this meaningless ministry, but he does nto really have much of a leg to stand on.

Netanyahu Giveth and Netanyahu Taketh Away. From Peretz and form his own Likud people.

1. With Rav Rafi Peretz splitting off from Yamina, Netanyahu's brilliance in political maneuvering comes through once again. Not because he got Peretz - that is not so important for anything besides Netanyahu's image and support in the right wing. Peretz is taking a job that is almost meaningless, so the job and connection is meaningless for everything except image. Netanyahu's brilliance is in being able to hold the Likud together, even while making almost every Likud politician unhappy, while ravaging [almost] every other party.

Netanyahu has now successfully dismantled Kachol Lavan, Yamina, Labor and the Labor-Gesher-Meretz bloc.

Netanyahu's leadership skills and political savvy will be, or should be, studied for generations.

2. With Rav Rafi Peretz splitting off from Yamina and Joining the Netanyahu-led coalition he has shown, again or further, how fragmented the Dati Leumi community leadership is. Peretz is well respected (though not necessarily as a politician), yet he broke a major promise to Ben Gvir for "the sake of unity" in the DL camp, and now he is breaking up that unity for a minor ministry in a bloated government. It is not even for anything important or significant.

Perhaps Bennett deserved such turnabout, as he himself did similarly in previous election cycles, but at least Bennett did it for fairly important and significant roles and influence. Peretz is doing it for a meaningless ministry with almost no authority created just for him to join the coalition. Anyone who criticizes Bennett for his past breakaways and splits but praises and supports Peretz is being hypocritical and vindictive. And Peretz is not just screwing Bennett and Shaked, but also Smotritch and his supporters.

I am amazed Mafdal/BayitYehudi/Yamina still has any voters and supporters at all. They have shown themselves time and again to be selfish politicians (as perhaps many are) with almost no influence.

There is a report about an event at which Rav Rafi Peretz, Minister of Education, officiated called the International Physics Olympiad.

3 boys and a girl won prizes at the event. Peretz is coming under criticism for not shaking the girls hand, though he shook the hands of the boys. Peretz has responded to the criticism by saying he was not familiar with the protocol of the event and because she was first, he just did not realize he was supposed to shake her hand. Presumably by the next winner he had been told or figured it out.

In defense of Minister Peretz, besides for the fact that I don't see this as a bad thing, considering he is a religious politician, he also comes from a rabbinical background, not a political one. He is not a seasoned politician, and he likely falls back on his rabbinics considering he does not yet have developed political senses.

Nobody would expect any of the Haredi politicians to shake hands with a girl, and they are careful not to in the Knesset and at State visits from foreign dignitaries and at their meetings with female professionals, and nobody says boo when they don't. Just because Rav Peretz is dati does not mean he has to compromise on those same ideals, if that is what he believes is right. Even if I think it is ok to shake hands with a woman in a professional setting, I accept that others do not.

Besides for all that, this is a contrived crisis. If you watch the video in the original report of this incident, you will see that the girl did not even extend her hand toward Peretz for a shake. He did not rebuff her attempt to shake hands. She did not stick out her hand, and he did not stick out his. This entire crisis is made up and turned from something completely insignificant into an attack.

You can see the video on Mako.

If she wants to come back, she'll have to knock on the door very nicely

  -- MK Rav Rafi Peretz (Ichud Hayemin), about the possibility of Ayelet Shaked returning to run as part of Ichud Hayemin, the party she left with Naftali Bennett to form Hayemin Hechadash, if new elections become official.

Personally I don't think she should go back or will go back to Ichud Hayemin. That is not her natural home - it was good and fine when Bennett was in charge, as he represented the less torani part of that sector, but with the party having gone more torani with Rav Peretz at the helm, it isnt the right place for Shaked, even if Ichud Hayemin could benefit from being seen as being more diverse. Also, it is not likely Peretz and Smotritch will give her much authority. Ayelet Shaked wants to work and influence, and not be anybody's fig leaf. It is more likely she will either run again with Bennett or join the Likud or another [semi] secular party.

According to this report on Kipa, MK Rav Rafi Peretz, head of the Ichud Hayemin party, was in the town of Elazar for Shabbos, at the same time a group of young wmoen from Midreshet Lindenbaum were also in town for Shabbos.

According to the report, after davening one of the young women approached him and asked that he speak to the group. Rav Peretz refused due to the fact that these were young women planning to draft into the IDF in the summer draft (though they already have the status of soldiers). A staff member requested that he speak to them and give them encouragement and tips how to serve in the best possible way, as he often does for young men in the process of being drafted, but Rav Peretz refused saying that he is opposed to women serving in the IDF.

I hope the report is not accurate. At the end of the article Rav Peretz responds that it had not been coordinated and because he was there for a family event he did not have time to meet with them. As Robert Evans said, there are three sides to every story - my side, your side and the truth. It would be a shame if that was really Rav Peretz's approach. Even if he is opposed to female soldiers, and he has every right to be, once they are in the system, they no longer have a choice. Even if it is before they are in the system, people sometimes make choices we don't like. If he wants his political home to be inclusive to the Dati community, he has to find a way to deal with the large segment of the Dati community that thinks differently than he does, whether on the issue of females in the IDF or regarding other issues. If he is going to push people away just because he personally has a different opinion, he won't have much of a political party to run.

And besides for that, just from the human aspect. Rav Peretz is in a unique position. He was Chief Rabbi of the IDF, and now he heads the home political party for that sector. Peretz is in a unique position to help, to inspire, to influence, and to really make a difference in the lives of these young people. It would be a shame if he took the approach of pushing people away for making choices he personally does not like.

I hope this was just a misunderstanding.