Bayit Yehudi & Yamina – Three Years Later

After serving as Faction Director for Yamina and later Bayit Yehudi, I chose to remain in the Knesset in a professional capacity without being a member of any political party, after Bayit Yehudi failed to pass the electoral threshold in the 25th Knesset elections. ((1) Jeremy Saltan – דף חדש נפתח כשם שאם אין קמח אין תורה, כך אם אין… | Facebook).

In the run-up to those elections, many party officials resigned. I was among the last members of the party apparatus, which meant that after the elections, I became the point of contact for many people’s questions—effectively the last man standing. Since then, I’ve been asked countless times what happened to the other candidates on our list (הבית-היהודי-2022.pdf), which inspired me to choose this as the topic for my first blog post here in nearly a decade.

Why now? With 2026 expected to be an election year, public interest in this question will only grow. I thought it would be helpful to have all the information gathered in one place. If you spot any errors or have updates, please share them in the comments, and I’ll make the necessary edits.

On this topic, the biggest development since the 2022 elections was Bayit Yehudi’s merger into Religious Zionism in August 2023 (Religious Zionism and Jewish Home parties merge | Israel National News). However, nearly all the candidates had already left the party—either before or shortly after the merger. So where did they all go?

#1 Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina), left politics and entered the business sector.
#2 Mayor Yossi Brodny (Bayit Yehudi), re-elected as Mayor running as an independent; joined Yisrael Beitenu in August 2024 (Former Jewish Home and Likud member joins Yisrael Beytenu | The Jerusalem Post)
#3 Amitai Porat (Yamina), son of the late MK Hanan Porat; left politics and began working for an NGO.
#4 Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (Bayit Yehudi), left politics and returned to leading her NGO.
#5 MK Yomtob Kalfon (Yamina), left politics and went back to practicing law.
#6 MK Orna Starkmann (Yamina), left politics and went back to managing her business.
#7 Moshe Chanaya (Bayit Yehudi), former Mayor and Central Committee Chairman; left politics.
#8 Noy Rozenfeld (Yamina), former city councilman; joined New Hope in November 2022. ((1) נוי רוזנפלד – היום נפגשתי עם השר גדעון סער, הייתה פגישה חיובית בה… | Facebook)
#9 Gila Ben Naim (Bayit Yehudi), former city councilwoman; joined Otzma Yehudit in May 2023. (גילה בן נאים בתפקיד חדש: ראש רשימת עוצמה יהודית בפתח תקווה).
I rounded out the top 10 and was the only one to remain inside the Knesset.

And what about the lesser-known candidates from 11-20?

#11 Dor Yitzhak Levy (Bayit Yehudi), joined the Otzma Yehudit city council list in September 2023. (בחירות 2023: הפיצול בימין הירושלמי – יהונתן יוסף ואריה קינג נפרדו | כל העיר ירושלים)
#12 Ohad Uzan (Yamina), Former city councilman; joined Shas in July 2023 (דרמה פוליטית בציבור הדתי בעיר. לאחר 25 שנה בראשון לציון), later reported in May 2025 as one of the activists who registered Bennett 2026 (יובל שגב | Yuval Segev on X: “כמה שמות חצי מעניינים כשיורדים קצת עמוק יותר ברשימת המקימים של מפלגת בנט: – רותם ינאי ממועצת העיר כרמיאל – אוהד אוזן חבר מועצת העיר ראשל”צ, מרשימה שכוללת גם את ש”ס – אייל פייבל, איש נדל”ן – זיו ביטון, סמנכ”ל בבית החולים איכילוב – אריק סיטון, מנהל “הרצליה מדיקל סנטר” – דוד” / X).
#13 Ayala Kadosh (Bayit Yehudi), joined Religious Zionism in July 2023, ahead of the merger; essentially the only Bayit Yehudi Knesset candidate to run as part of Religious Zionism in the municipal elections. (אחרי הפיצוץ: רשימה חדשה לבית היהודי והציונות הדתית | מעריב)
#14 Shmuel Greidi (Yamina), city councilman; ran as an independent on a coalition-aligned list in the 2024 municipal elections. (2) Facebook)
#15 David Yishai Bonfill (Bayit Yehudi), city councilman; ran as an independent on an opposition-aligned list in the 2024 municipal elections. (בחירות בגלבוע: דודי בונפיל חבר לעטר | עמקניוז – חדשות העמק)
#16 David Cohen (Yamina), party activist; became a coalition supporter. ((2) יריב לוין – Yariv Levin אני מוריד בפניך את… – David Dudi Cohen | Facebook)
#17 Shmuel Amarusi (Bayit Yehudi), left politics and returned to working as a mohel.
#18 Eti Attias (Yamina), ran as an independent on an opposition-aligned list in the 2024 municipal elections (בחירות 2023 בחדרה: הרשימות למועצת העיר נחשפות), later joined Uzan as a founder of Bennett 2026.
#19 Ayal Bar Lev (Bayit Yehudi), left politics but endorsed Yossi Brodny for re-election as Mayor ((1) איל בר-לב – בחרנו בראש העיר. | Facebook)
#20 Erez Luzon (Yamina) ran as an independent in the 2024 municipal elections (1708499162.2818.pdf), later joined Uzan and Attias in forming Bennett 2026.

Current Affiliations Summary

Retired from politics (8): Ayelet Shaked (#1), Amitai Porat (#3), Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (#4), Yomtob Kalfon (#5), Orna Starkmann (#6), Moshe Chanaya (#7), Shmuel Amarusi (#17), Ayal Bar Lev (#19).
Independents (3): Shmuel Greidi (#14) – Coalition-aligned, David Yishai Bonfill (#15) – Opposition-aligned, David Cohen (#16) – Coalition-aligned.
Bennett 2026 (3): Ohad Uzan (#12), Eti Attias (#18), Erez Luzon (#20).
Otzma Yehudit (2): Gila Ben Naim (#9), Dor Yitzhak Levy (#11)
Yisrael Beitenu (1): Yossi Brodny (#2)
Religious Zionism (1): Ayala Kadosh (#13)
New Hope (1): Noy Rozenfeld (#8)
Knesset Independent (1): Jeremy Saltan (#10)