United Torah Judaism chairman rejects Smotrich's coalition warning

United Torah Judaism chairman Yaakov Asher dismissed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's criticism about joining the Change Bloc, saying talks have not yet begun.

Chairman of United Torah Judaism, MK Yaakov Asher, responded to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's attack on the possibility that the Haredi parties would join the Change Bloc. In an interview with ynet, Asher said: "I didn't like hearing him when he gave us the sting, and he shouldn't give me a sermon about a honey trap." He clarified that there is still no advanced negotiation: "We are talking, we are listening." Smotrich addressed his faction meeting to members of the Haredi parties and called on them not to join the Change Bloc, which he called a "honey trap." He warned that they would be used to oust Netanyahu and the right, and called the replacement of the Knesset Speaker with the support of the Arab parties "illegitimate" and "moral bankruptcy." The article reports on a political confrontation between coalition partners against the backdrop of political contacts.