Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedFlash 90

Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked called Sunday morning on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to work to expand the right-wing bloc and not take votes from smaller right-wing parties.

Shaked responded to attacks on the Yamina party by the prime minister in an interview with Galei Tzhal (Army Radio). "There is also the party of Smotrich and Shaked. Netanyahu should take advice before the election to stop trying to chisel away from it."

"The prime minister is wrong and misleading. He is doing this every election campaign. He also did it in the previous election campaign and we saw what happened. He was unable to form a government," she said.

"What matters is the size of the bloc and it is very important that Yamina be a very large party," she added. "I expect the prime minister to stop messing with the right-wing party, we are his natural partners. We will recommend him. He knows it."

According to her, "If Yamina is not big, it is quite clear that the left government will emerge. In the past, the Prime Minister went with Ehud Barak, went with Tzipi Livni, wanted to go with Yair Lapid and leave us outside, tried to bring in Buji Herzog, Avi Gabbay. Whoever wants a right-ring government, the Yamina party is the ideological heart of the right-wing government, and they know what we have to be a large party. I expect the prime minister to stop these attacks against his partners and start working on bringing in voters who fled to Liberman as well as explaining to people why they should not vote for parties which will not cross the threshold."

"Those who want a right-wing government should only vote Yamina. It's a huge difference in the nature of the government if we become 7 seats or 12 or 14 seats. Our job is to pull the government to the right, to implement right-wing policy. We have seen in the past that the prime minister has chosen to enter into a partnership and leave us out. He did it in 2009 when he brought in Brak and left the National Union out. In 2013 he wanted to leave us out after he signed with Tzipi Livni and planned to bring in Yair Lapid. He does this every time. We will recommend Netanyahu because he is the right-wing leader today, but whoever wants a right-wing government should vote for Yamina."