A senior member of the Kulanu faction ruled out any possible coalition with left-wing parties after next month’s election, emphasizing that Kulanu is a “right-wing party”.
Roy Folkman, number four on Kulanu’s Knesset list, said in an interview with Arutz Sheva Sunday that his party’s natural partner is the Likud, adding that Kulanu would not back the formation of a leftist government.
“I’ve said that we are natural partners of the Likud, and we will be partners of a right-wing, nationalist government. Of course we won’t go with a left-wing coalition. The only way that I could think of that it could possibly happen is maybe in the case of a unity government, but I think the odds of that happening are very low.”
Recent polls show the left-leaning Blue and White party leading the Likud, though the right-wing – religious bloc retains a very narrow majority in the 120-member Knesset.
Without a clear path to form a coalition of left-wing parties, Blue and White would be forced to turn to either Kulanu, Yisrael Beytenu, or the haredi parties – though both Shas and United Torah Judaism have ruled out a coalition with Blue and White.
If Blue and White would be unable to secure support from at least 61 MKs, the president would likely offer the Likud the chance to form a majority government – even if the Likud has few mandates than Blue and White.
“We are a right-wing state party, but the incitement by Bennett and Shaked over the last term has really hurt the Israeli right,” referring to the campaign by the New Right ministers to reform the Israeli judicial system.
“There is always room for changes, but not anger. When you set your ire upon the criminal justice system, you are turning on the institutions of the state, and harm public trust in the State. That hurts our ability to advance nationalist policies too.”
In response to Folkman’s comments, the New Right released a statement saying: “The Kulanu party was the left-wing of the current coalition. It blocked every right-wing initiative, beginning with the Override Clause,” a bill aimed at limiting the Supreme Court’s right to judicial review, “and continuing on to the removal of infiltrators. Roy Folkman and the Kulanu party blocked every initiative of ministers Bennett and Shaked to change the infrastructure of the judicial system. During the entire Knesset term, the represented the left’s policies in the judicial system. How nice that all of the sudden during election season they remembered to pretend to be right-wingers. But the public won’t forget.”