Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedFlash 90

Yamina chairwoman Ayelet Shaked responded to Arutz Sheva's special interview with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he claimed that there is no need for her faction to receive more than 10 seats in the upcoming Knesset elections.

"If Yamina receives just six seats, there will be no right-wing government formed. We will, perhaps, accept the Public Inquiries Committee. It will return us to the days when religious Zionism was thought of as akin to the IDF religion clerk. The left is pleased and wants us small and weak because we are effective," she said.

Shaked was angered by Netanyahu's dismissal of her party's members. "Does it really matter if Orit Struck, whom I respect, gets in? Or is it more important that we be bigger than Gantz and Lapid?" Netanyahu asked.

"The recent attacks on religious Zionism are solely because of the political power we have accumulated in recent years. Netanyahu wants us small and weak so that we will not challenge him on the right," Shaked responded.

According to her, the prime minister is trying to create an intimidation campaign when he talks about ensuring that the Likud would be the largest political party. "The bluff of the big party is already known. The president's mandate was given by the amount of those who make recommendations and not by the size of the party. Only three months ago, Netanyahu defeated himself. He had a large party but not a bloc with which he could form a government."

Shaked is also unimpressed by Netanyahu's promises to apply sovereignty in the Jordan Valley. "When we weren't in the government, Netanyahu made the Bar Ilan speech and committed to two states. When we entered politics and began to gain power and influence, he also adopted the terminology applying sovereignty. If we do not become strong and have only five or six mandates, sovereignty will not be applied. It will only remain in his speech as an election promise."

"And not only this promise, all our achievements in recent years will be reversed. Netanyahu will not establish a right-wing government, but a government with Amir Peretz in it," she concluded.