Nissan Slomiansky
Nissan SlomianskyFlash 90

MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) on Thursday welcomed the agreement reached between his party and the Likud allowing for the formation of a coalition, but expressed regret over the fact that the agreement took so long to be finalized.

"We achieved a lot, above and beyond what was expected,” Slomiansky told Arutz Sheva, but added wryly, “It is the Prime Minister who deserves the biggest congratulations for ignoring us in the beginning in his ‘wisdom’, instead of reaching an agreement on good terms right away; instead he made us bitter. And I definitely sadly say that he should have kept his word and spoken with us first in order to reach an understanding. Maybe we would have gotten less, but we would have done it respectfully. I prefer a marriage of love.”

“Unfortunately, [the Likud] did not go that way, it went the bad way, forcing us to use the power that we had," he continued. “It’s true we ended up getting more, but the atmosphere was not pleasant. You have to remember that towards the end of the previous [Knesset] term, a lot of parties conspired to overthrow the Prime Minister and the government, while we remained faithful. We thought there was fondness, there were understandings and we recommended Bibi all the time.

“Today we understand that there was not much fondness and the fact is that once the election ended, we were treated as though we are the biggest enemy,” said Slomiansky. “I hope the atmosphere will change and go back to the atmosphere it once was. But I also understand that one should not expect love in politics.”

Referring to his impending appointment as head of the Knesset Constitution Committee, Slomiansky said, "I started as a member of that committee, I also have a legal background in addition to physics and mathematics. This committee passes many laws related to the economy. There is no doubt that the fact that the Minister of Justice comes from my party, gives a lot of strength to the committee’s work.”

“Our only problem now,”  he warned, “is that we have a coalition of 61 where everyone is a king and it can easily fall apart. I hope that the leaders of the parties understand that we all depend on one another and it will bring greater coordination and cohesion.”