A senior official in the Yamina party said that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s appointment of former Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein as Health Minister “slams the door on our entry into the government.”

The official said the prime minister “was looking for the perfect way to humiliate Yamina and all its constituents, and succeeded. Edelstein did not demand the health portfolio at all, Bennett crisis, and Yamina wanted it in light of his functioning during the coronavirus crisis.”

“This is a calculated move by Netanyahu to destroy the alliance with religious Zionism. Netanyahu’s betrayal of the great faithful marks the beginning of his end in politics,” they added in Yamina.

The Likud party stated Tuesday evening that the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, which together have 16 Knesset seats, will receive three ministries and one committee chair in the next government, while the Yamina party is demanding four ministries when it has just six MKs.

“For weeks, Yamina did not want to give up because of internal disagreements between them about the distribution of portfolios, which led to demands that cannot be met,” the Likud added.

Leading religious Zionist rabbis have said that Prime Minister Netanyahu regards members of their movement like “beggars at the gate.”

Rabbi Chaim Drukman and Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira sent a letter to the religious Zionist Yamina party leaders today, promising to continue backing them “whether in the coalition or the opposition. We wish to strengthen your hand and your back at this difficult time,” the rabbis wrote in their letter which was published by journalist Yair Sharkey.

“We regret that after more than a year of a partnership proclaimed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, religious Zionists remain like beggars at the gate, while all other parties of the right-wing bloc received what they wanted,” the rabbis added.

‘We are again saying that the right must remain united, and must consolidate the great potential of religious Zionism for the future,” they concluded.

Media personality Shimon Riklin, who serves as commentator and presenter on Channel 20 and previously considered close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, posted this evening a sharp tweet about the rift between Netanyahu and Yamina.

“In short, Netanyahu is throwing religious Zionism to the winds. It’s wrong and unjust. It’s a great shame,” tweeted Riklin, apparently in response to the announcement of Yuli Edelstein’s appointment as Health Minister, but deleted the tweet after a few minutes.

Original: Arutz Sheva