Bezalel Smotrich
Bezalel SmotrichHezki Baruch

Yamina MK Betzalel Smotrich today spoke to Erel Segal and Roi Idan on 103FM and referred to support by Naftali Bennett and Matan Kahane in the no-confidence vote that put Yair Lapid as prime minister.

MK Smotrich explained why he did not vote in favor of opposition leader Lapid's no confidence motion: "Lapid is no alternative because he, too, called for violating the guidelines, and his people violated them themselves. I suggest he not compete who is worse.

"Yair Lapid thought there was an alternative because he would forcefully educate the haredim, it won't succeed, there is no such animal; you won't educate them by force. Lapid bootlicks and flatters the haredim because he wants to be prime minister and he understands that he won't succeed without them.

"The most cynical man in Israeli politics is Yair Lapid, without a drop of truth, a drop of values, or a drop of agenda. He'd wear a shtreimel and go to a tisch during the coronavirus period without a mask if it brings him closer to the prime minister's office."

He also claimed there was no "constructive no-confidence motion" and that "the law in the State of Israel stipulates that every motion of no confidence must present an alternative, like every motion of no confidence for many years. Yesterday Meretz members voted in favor of Yamina's no-confidence motion and Yamina's no-confidence motion has Bennett as Prime Minister, what, doesn't Nitzan Horowitz want to be prime minister? Smotrich yesterday voted in favor of Meretz's no-confidence motion where Nitzan Horowitz is Prime Minister. I want him as Prime Minister? Opposition parties are voting for no-confidence motions because they have no confidence in the government. There's no such thing as 'constructive no-confidence. You're deceptive, you sell lies to the public."

He added: "Does anyone think I expressed no-confidence in Horowitz? I expressed no-confidence in the government, and Naftali Bennett expressed no-confidence in the government and voted for no-confidence. We have one red line, we don't vote for Joint Arab List no-confidence motions because it's a non-Zionist body and we don't cooperate with them in anything. I have no confidence in the government and its leader, in the treatment of coronavirus and everything else. That's why I vote no-confidence in the government, period. Will we then go with Yair Lapid? Have you gone mad? What do I have to do with Yair Lapid?"

"Imaginary Consensus"

He went on to address the issue of appointing Efi Eitan as Chairman of Yad Vashem and MK Lapid's proposal to appoint Adi Altshuler to the position: "I wish, after 30 years of rule, the Likud would appoint Efi Eitan and not give in. In Lapid's view, only a Leftist, elitist, Ashkenazi is in the imaginary consensus he conjures for himself, and only he can represent the memory of the Holocaust. But a Right-leaning man with a kippah on his head? G-d forbid. Tommy Lapid was the chairman of Yad Vashem, look how unifying he was. He did not form the Shinui party," he said sarcastically.

In his opinion, "Efi Eitan, the man who is a hero of Israel, a minister in the government, an idealist, an extraordinary man. Yair Lapid comes and says he's not worthy? Obviously this is an excuse; he found the reprimand 300 years ago, it's like finding the one who pulled a girl's ponytail in kindergarten and now filing a lawsuit against him and trumping up a case."

He continued: "Lapid is unable to accept that a religious Right-leaning man would reflect a consensus of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem needs to be roused, there are the 'uniformed witnesses' where their counselors facilitate discussions there, on cursed German soil, on how to make sure we don't do what the Germans did. This is a total bankruptcy, and I hope Effi Eitan will be appointed and come to set things straight there. I understand she's a social activist. I'm not against her, but I'm unprepared for there to be a perception that only the Leftists are in consensus."

"Crazy leadership crisis"

Another issue discussed by the three is the treatment of coronavirus, with an emphasis on haredi society. In the opinion of the Knesset Member, "What happened with the haredi public was difficult, I agree that its shock waves can accompany us in so many ways. Even before the haredii public, with all my criticism of that public itself, I think the government bears much of the responsibility. We need to build trust and cooperation and harness it. This isn't a bad community."

Smotrich also claimed that "the coronavirus crisis reveals much deeper processes in Israeli society that may not be readily noticed. I for example think it reveals a crazy leadership crisis, really, in the simplest sense of the word. Where do you see if there is leadership or not? In crisis. Usually we want the government to intervene as little as possible and let us live. In an event of this magnitude, we need government management and suddenly it turns out there's no leadership."

He believes that among the haredi sector, "an entire public feels that its core values ​​aren't part of the suasion at all. Litzman feels that professionally, from a health point of view, it was right to do the closure in August, but they won't do that because it would mess up the secular summer vacation, but to do it to the religious' holidays with no problem at all; and it does not matter if it is real or not, that is how they feel, you won't prove to them otherwise. I'm not saying it's real. It tears me up on the inside, this story is complex."

Finally, MK Smotritz stressed: "I'm not justifying, I just want us to understand, and I say that if we, as leaders, don't understand and do not give a sense that there is understanding and consideration and we just ignore them, then we have no common language."