Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed Tuesday evening that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu intends to establish a demilitarized Palestinian Arab state.
"After the joy of taking the left-wing Arab minority government option off the table (which was a major danger to the Zionist idea), here is my analysis and assessment of the next coalition. Caution - not optimistic," Smotrich said.
He said that the poor performance of MK Benny Gantz in yesterday's elections could mean the "disintegration of the Blue and White party" and could force Gantz to join a coalition led by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
"Gantz has three good scales to get off the tree and justify entering Netanyahu's government despite the election promises: 1) Bibi has no immunity. He is waging a fight for his innocence in court which is legitimate. 2) There is a "historic opportunity" today to determine the permanent boundaries of the State of Israel within the realization of the Trump program, and only if it is in government the plan will be realized and not just sovereignty. 3) Thanks to his entry into the government "Smotrich and Peretz" will be left out. Otherwise they are inside. If he is in government, he "saves" the justice system, and more," the Transportation Minister said.
According to Smotrich, Netanyahu would prefer to have the Blue and White party in his coalition to the Yamina party. "Netanyahu really wants to implement the Trump plan on both sides and establish a "demilitarized" Palestinian state. For that, he needs Gantz and not us. There is certainly concern that Netanyahu will want to enter in the history books at the end of his term as someone who brought "a historic political agreement" and implemented the "Bar Ilan Vision.""
"He does not really want to make historical amendments to the judicial system either, and if he forms a government with Gantz - he will have who to blame (by Kahlon ...). And, as we know, Netanyahu "does not die" by whether we are in the coalitio.
"Therefore, the likely scenario is that Gantz disassociates himself from Lapid and Ya'alon and becomes a defense minister in the Netanyahu government with his 15 MKs," Smotrich predicted.
"If Netanyahu builds on the fact that Bennett can live in such a government, so that he does not appear to betray religious Zionism, but leaves out only the "Smotrichs" (he did this when he left the National Union out in 2009) and has a process government with broad political support with "national reconciliation", etc. he will be disappointed. From my many meetings and conversations with Bennett, there is no situation in the world in which he will turn away away from religious Zionism and its national values by partaking in such a move.
"Bibi could of course do it without Bennett, but publicly he would look very bad. In such a government, and with only 6 seats, it would be very difficult to stop the establishment of a Palestinian state unless the Likudniks present Netanyahu with red lines," he concluded.