Ahead if the upcoming vote on the proposed government, Shas MK Michael Malkieli warned that the new government will have to deal with a combative opposition.
"Anyone who thought he will be facing a sleepy opposition is mistaken and his imaginations are in error," Malkieli told Kol Hai Radio. "We are very good parliamentarians and we will ensure that the life of this government is very not simple. We will try to embarrass it as much as possible, and believe me, this is a government that it's not hard to embarrass, because of the contrasts and the lack of understandings between them, on a variety of issues."
"They have succeeded in bringing their vengeful desires to fruition, but the day afterwards you need to run the country as well. This is a paralyzed government. There is nothing that they will manage to push forward together."
Regarding the claims made by Yesh Atid's chief MK Yair Lapid and Yamina's chief MK Naftali Bennett that subjects of disagreement will be put aside, Malkieli said: "After two years without a stable government, there are a lot of things that need to be pushed forward."
"Let's talk for instance about the issue of regulating settlements. There's no such thing as leaving it all paralyzed. There are towns in Judea and Samaria which need permits in order to expand - if you don't approve it, that's not called doing nothing, you definitely are doing something - you are actively boycotting the settlements."
Regarding the negligible chance of forming a right-wing government, he said: "In politics it's hard to say that there is no longer any chance, but the hatred there towards [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is right now holding them very strongly. I don't think Netanyahu is at fault for this situation. Someone who examines everything I do will find what to criticize about me as well - there is what to criticize about every person. At the end of the day, Netanyahu is a good prime minister who has achieved great things."
When asked why he does not support a candidate other than Netanyahu, if it would help his voters, Malkieli answered: "Shas announced from the first moment that it would go with Netanyahu. We have to be faithful to our voters."