Responding to MK Nir Orbach's ultimatum to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, with three demands he wants met if he is to remain in the coalition, MK Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, called Orbach's move a "bluff."
"It's a drama that Bennett and Orbach have staged between them," Smotrich said. "Bennett has provided Orbach with a ladder to climb down his tall tree, that's all."
Smotrich then addressed Orbach's demands one-by-one:
"With regard to the daycare subsidies, an agreement has already been finalized with the Finance Ministry," Smotrich said. "Two, the Supreme Planning Council is in any case going to be convened by Defense Minister Gantz, in order to save the coalition. And three, the issue of electricity has already ended in a victory for [PA President Mahmoud Abbas], with more illegal Arab outposts being hooked up to the national grid than Jewish communities."
Yisrael Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, was also critical of Orbach's move.
"This isn't the time for ultimatums -- it's time to get moving!" he said. "Any Knesset member who belongs to the National camp who wants to address the dangers facing the settlements and preserve the interests of the State must take immediate action and leave this terrible coalition.
"We have already wasted precious time with dangerous policies," Gantz added. "With each additional day that passes, this government does more and more damage, much of it irreversible. This is not a matter of the number of housing units approved, as the housing issue is inseparable from the wider issues facing the National camp and the Jewish People, and no one should try to drive a wedge between us."