Eli Yishai
Eli YishaiEliran Aharon

Former Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who heads the Yachad party, told Arutz Sheva on Thursday that had he been part of the coalition, Amona would not have been demolished.

Yishai opined that the rightist parties in the coalition should have applied greater pressure to pass the Regulation Law with the clause that applied it retroactively, thus saving Amona.

“I was in Amona, it's a difficult and sad day. The expulsion was unnecessary and the images remind us all of the harsh pictures from Gush Katif. It’s too bad it happened under a right-wing government. There is a dangerous precedent for other communities and I hope the Regulation Law will pass and that the Supreme Court will not reject it,” said Yishai.

Had he been in the coalition, he continued, “I would have threatened to resign from the coalition and then they would have passed the law because they would have understood that unless they do it, there will not be a coalition.”

"This is a failure of a right-wing government,” declared Yishai. “Even senior ministers admitted that they lost this war. We’ll see if the Knesset enacts the Regulation Law. I hope that the Court will not intervene because just as there is a judicial authority, there is also a legislature.”

Yishai proposed enacting a law that would prevent NGOs to petition the Supreme Court on behalf of Palestinian Arabs with regard to land claims.

“It’s unheard of that an organization comes and sues over ownership of the land on behalf of the landowner. The landowner himself should come and submit a petition and we will offer him a lot of money [in exchange for the property]. Believe me, he will agree."