MK Moshe Gafni, head of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, on Monday said that he had been offered to retain his previous position as Finance Committee Chairman, in exchange for abstaining from the vote on the new coalition.
"I was very insulted by this," Gafni told Kol Barama Radio. "Because we can't be bought with money."
"The whole time, they are trying to convince us to leave [MK Benjamin] Netanyahu and to work with others. This is the reality that I've lived with for many years, certainly recently."
Emphasizing that UTJ will not work with the current government due to its principles, Gafni said: "[Israeli Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett is a con man who lied to the people of Israel, unashamedly. He betrayed his voters. If elections were held today - he would not pass the electoral threshold. The media ripped Netanyahu apart like a fish - today, with how Bennett is acting, they speak with gentleness and professionalism."
Regarding Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), who promised to cut daycare subsidies for yeshiva families, Gafni said that he is "slimy with corruption. His party is the most corrupt party in Israel. He is a bad man, who does bad deeds. He does everything he can in order to hurt the haredi public."
However, Gafni opposed requesting the Supreme Court's help in removing Liberman from his position.
"I am opposed [to that]," he said. "They never were in favor of the haredi community. Someone else can appeal. We need to end this dictatorship of a few judges who are ignoramuses."
The current government, he added, is dangerous to the State of Israel: "Imagine to yourselves that in Netanyahu's time, a parent would arrive at the vaccination station, and there wouldn't be a vaccine for his child. The news outlets wouldn't stop talking. Here, it goes over quietly. What's most important is that Netanyahu is not in power - that is the goal of the Israeli media, with the judicial system that helps it. I give the government a zero for its management of coronavirus. Prime Minister Bennett endangers the citizens of Israel."