Moshe Gafni
Moshe GafniFlash 90

United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chief MK Moshe Gafni rejected rumors that he might join with New Hope chief Gideon Sa'ar, if Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not manage to garner 61 supporters in Tuesday's elections.

At an elections conference in Lod, Gafni said that even if Netanyahu does not have 61 supporters, UTJ will continue to work only with the Likud, under his leadership.

"We go with Netanyahu, because the traditional public is with the Likud," Gafni said. "That is how we were educated. I heard this from Rabbi [Elazar] Shach, obm, from Rabbi [Yosef Shalom] Elyashiv, obm, from Rabbi [Aharon Yehuda Leib] Steinman, obm. I heard this from the rabbis, may they live long - Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein."

Gafni added that his party "is not Right, is not Left, is not Center."

"We are UTJ, which goes according to the instructions of its rabbis. You cannot forget the historic conference during which Rabbi Shach attacked the Leftist kibbutz residents and asked them, 'How are you Jews?' We go with the traditional public, which believes in G-d: the public for which Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath - ed.) is a pertinent issue."

Clarifying a previous statement attributed to him that if Netanyahu's bloc does not have 61 seats, UTJ will "weigh its steps," Gafni said: "One of the spokespeople of a party close to us made certain to spread the word that I said that if Netanyahu does not have 61 seats, we will not go with him. That's a lie. We will go according to the instructions of our rabbis, with the one who stands at the head of the Likud - and [that is] because the traditional public is there. And we are committed to this public."