Ofir Akunis
Ofir AkunisMiriam Alster/Flash 90

Amid the hullabaloo of primaries voting for Likud on Wednesday, Arutz Sheva spoke with the party's Deputy Environmental Protection Minister Ofir Akunis about the vote, as well as the Palestinian Authority's (PA) failure the night before with its UN Security Council resolution.

The PA unilateral demand for recognition as a state and Israeli withdrawals by 2017 did not achieve the needed nine votes, which in any case would likely have led to an American veto shooting down the move.

"The Israeli attempt to convince the world to reject unilateral moves has succeeded," said Akunis. "We succeeded in convincing important countries that you can't breach agreements and bring an arrangement viewed by the Palestinians as a victory. I'm happy for the Palestinian failure."

Akunis's comments refer to the fact that unilateral moves such as the one taken by the PA at the UN is in breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The response to the move, according to Akunis, is that "we need to apply sovereignty on Judea and Samaria. Their unilateral move needs to be hit by a clear response - applying sovereignty and pushing settlement."

PA chairperson Mahmoud Abbas now reportedly is determined to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) to sue Israel for "war crimes," to which Akunis says "we have to take off the kid gloves."

"From the other side there's an attempt to goad Israel by all means. The world rejected this process and it's possible to convince other sources to reject the Palestinians on all fronts," said Akunis. "The Western world is sobering up and understands that there's no partner on the other side."

While the world might be starting to understand there is no partner, Akunis said he is relatively certain Hatnua chairperson Tzipi Livni doesn't understand that. She recently joined with Labor to form a list that polls estimate could get roughly as many seats as Likud.

"I don't trust her. She will never admit to her failure (in peace talks). She said that we need to sit in a room and talk even when she knew that it was impossible. There's no peace partner on the other side," said the deputy minister.

Speaking about the primaries and upcoming elections in March, Akunis said "I haven't changed my positions and I don't intend to change them. I always supported the settlements, I'm a supporter of the whole land of Israel (including Judea and Samaria), oppose a Palestinian state and am for building throughout the country."

"I don't change positions and I reason that if we stand firmly on this position in the Likud in general elections we'll gain voters," he added.

According to Akunis the upcoming elections don't place Likud against the political "center," but rather against the left, which he says includes Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party, Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, Labor and Meretz.