Chairman of Yamina, MK Naftali Bennett, attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu today (Monday, March 15) at the conference of the Besheva newspaper in Jerusalem.
"On my way here, I heard Netanyahu was demanding me to promise [not to sit in a government headed by Lapid]. Imagine - Netanyahu demanding someone else to promise something before elections have taken place, he quipped.
"This is the same Netanyahu who swore he'd dismantle Khan al Ahmar and today it's already a small city, the same Netanyahu who swore time and time again, just prior to Election Day to, 'apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. Then, once Netanyahu was elected, he threw the National Union party under the bus, and chose to sit with [Ehud] Barak instead. And it's the same Netanyahu who vowed to 'no matter what fulfill his promise to a rotational government with Benny Gantz.'"
"I have to admit that hearing the word 'commitment' from Netanyahu is a bit like inaugurating [controversial scientist] Yoram Les as the Corona 'Czar'," he continued.
"Friends, this is what I do promise: I pledge to form a right-wing government that cares for all its citizens. Not a government filled with ministers who do nothing but sit around collecting paychecks instead of keeping dangerous COVID mutations from entering the country. Not one with a transport minister who tells people that whoever refuses to vote for her party is a bad human being."
"Netanyahu is not on the Right. A true right-wing government would not allow COVID variants to enter the country. The real Right would not ignore that over the last 12 years of Likud rule, we've lost [large parts of the Negev desert] to a Bedouin land grab. Let's pretend nothing is happening to Jews living in Judea and Samaria. Thousands of businesses in Dimona, Arad and Be'er Sheva are terrorized on a daily basis. I've seen it with my own eyes. They pay security firms hundreds of thousands monthly to prevent Bedouins from burning down their business. There's no one to turn to. Everyone, including the Minister of Interior Security is from the Likud," said Bennett.
"So a minute before the election, Bibi remembers to tell people that he's the only one on the Right and all others are leftists. This is the same man who appointed Ehud Barak, the one person to cause the most damage to the settlement enterprise than any other minister in the last generation, as Defense Minister after having a right-wing government sworn in; the same Bibi who made Tzipi Livni his first government appointment in 2013, who selected Shai Nitzan to take over as Attorney General with just myself, Uri Ariel, and Uri Orbach Z"L coming out against. The same person who promised to take personal responsibility for decreasing housing costs and who, instead, has doubled these over the past 12 years..."
According to Bennett, "We're the only ones who've stood up for the People of Israel against Supreme Court justices. Netanyahu's government didn't build a single Jewish house in Hebron. I had an entire neighborhood erected. We're not out for the interests of the Right only - we want to make life easier for the entire country."
"...Everyone knows that this election isn't between the right and left. The right can get 80 seats if it wants. This one is within the Right itself - a choice between politicians who only care about themselves and will only lead us to yet another round of elections and a right-wing government that cares about the citizens of this country," Bennett concluded.