Netanyahu at government meeting
Netanyahu at government meetingCredit: Hezki Baruch

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attacked Blue and White leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz for their opposition to the camera law which was approved on Sunday by the government and will be brought to legislation as soon as possible.

"Gantz and Lapid are opposed to the placement of cameras," Netanyahu said. "I understand them. They want to steal the elections. And together with them, [Joint Arab List MKs] Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi and the Joint Arab List and [Yisrael Beyteinu chairman Avigdor] Liberman who joined them. They want their bloc to win. I understand this."

"What I don't understand is how those who speak about the importance of the law don't support our demand to place cameras [in the voting booths]. What could be simpler than this? Everywhere you go - supermarkets, restaurants, cafes - there are cameras. Suddenly the only place in the public sphere where it's forbidden to place cameras is in the voting booths. Our laws say explicitly: photographing from behind a screen - no, but from any other place - yes. And in this way, we'll know exactly what happened and prevent fraud."

According to Netanyahu, prevention of fraud in the previous elections would have left Arab party Balad out of the current Knesset, and enabled the New Right to be in. "I'm saying that this fraud led to the fact - that it's possible that we could have had 61 mandates and prevented the second round of elections. It's not impossible that Balad made it in [to the Knesset] due to fraud. So we want to ensure the integrity of the elections. This is the lifeblood of democracy, this is the lifeblood of the law and therefore it's impossible to understand this opposition. There is no justification for this."

"Gantz and Lapid want to steal the elections - we won't allow them. We'll pass this law in the Knesset starting from tomorrow," Netanyahu concluded.