In an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu repeated his vow not to opt for a “unity government” with Labor's Yitzhak Herzog.
When asked by Arutz Sheva who will be the first person he calls after the results become known, Netanyahu said that he will call Miriam Peretz, who lost two sons in the IDF's wars, and then – Naftali Bennett, Chairman of the Jewish Home, “to tell him to join with the Jewish Home as a senior partner in our nationalist government.”
"Only a right wing government,” he said. “That is what I am committing to do.”
When asked why he chose Peretz as the first call, he pointed out that in their last meeting, Peretz showed him a letter that her son Eliraz hy”d wrote to Netanyahu as a youth, which he said was “one of the most moving letters I have ever received.”
Eliraz Peretz “expressed his trust in me, that I will safeguard the Land and the State, and that is my commitment. To do that, I want to commit so that it is clear to everyone – there will not be a unity government. There is no such thing. And there cannot be. What there will be is a right wing government under my leadership. I will take the Jewish Home and all of the parties of the national camp and we will establish a nationalist government with God's help and with your help.”
Netanyahu repeated his argument that it is not enough for the nationalist bloc in the Knesset to be larger than the left-wing bloc. “There is agap that has opened up between us and the Labor party, and that could place the job of creating the government on Labor,” he said, and called on readers to vote for Likud.
Netanyahu said that Arab voters are being brought to the polling booths by V-15 and other NGOs funded from abroad. “We do not have NGOs,” he said. “We do not have V-15, we have 'tzav 8' [as the orders calling up soldiers to the battlefield are called – ed.]. We have you. If you do not go to the voting booth, Ahmed Tibi and Hanin Zoabi will make Buji Herzog prime minister for the Left.
"That is why we must go and close the gap. Come en masse, bring your families, bring your friends, come to the voting booth and vote Mahal [the letters that represent Likud – ed.] and with your help and God's help we will establish a right wing government, a nationalist camp government.”
Asked about construction freezes, Netanyahu said that his government has built thousands of homes and will continue to do so, but “we will do so with foresight.” Regarding the possibility of more terrorist releases, he said: “There will be no terrorist releases. This thing has passed from the world.”
Netanyahu said that he is “very worried” about the reports that the left is busing Arabs to the voting booths. “If we do not wake up, if we do not bring everyone out, the families, the friends, the relatives, a left wing government will be established and we will all understand the terrible consequences for the state. There is a possibility of narrowing the gap.”