According to Aluf Benn in Haaretz, High-ranking Likud officials claimed over the weekend that Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, are seeking to
keep Habayit Hayehudi out of the coalition because of personal issues
concerning party chairman Naftali Bennett.
One
confidant toold Haaretz, the Netanyahus lost their
trust in Bennett a former chief of staff of Netanyahu and that Sara
“issued a veto” against bringing the party into the ruling coalition.
Another
Netanyahu associate claimed that Netanyahu believes his
former bureau chief leaked information to the media on criminal and
governmental investigations of the prime minister in several different
cases.
One of the stories linked to Bennett's leaking is believed to be the story revealed by Raviv Druker on Channel 10, that attorney-general ordered investigation of the prime
minister over allegations that haredi singer and businessman Dedi
Graucher illegally transferred cash to Netanyahu. In January 2013, the police announced there's not sufficient evidence to launch an investigation against the Prime Minister.
Another highly placed source said Netanyahu does not want Bennett in
his coalition because the prime minister wants to renew negotiations
with the Palestinians, or at least to give that impression, in order to
improve his image in the eyes of the international community.
A Likud cabinet minister, meanwhile, said Sunday that he believed
Netanyahu would eventually bring Habayit Hayehudi into his coalition.
