In a tense interview with Arutz-7 today, MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) explained how his party views its role in a government whose Foreign Minister may announce support for a Palestinian state this afternoon. Haggai Segal challenged him to explain why his party does not either quit or threaten to quit the government. \"I made an amazing discovery today,\" Hendel answered. \"It\'s called the phone. You don\'t have to come out with announcements to the press; instead all we had to do was call the Prime Minister\'s Office and make it very clear where we stand on this issue. We said very clear things…
\"We have our finger on the pulse, and if we see any [government] actions indicating that it is going off the path - such as giving away a millimeter of Eretz Yisrael, or even declarations that pave the way for giving it away - then we won\'t be there [in the government]. But it must be clear: Our goal is for Peres to leave the government, not us. At present we don\'t have the ability to bring down the government - if our 7 MKs leave, it will leave Sharon with \"only\" 74 MKs, instead of 81; this will certainly worry him tremendously - and will also make Peres happy and strengthen those in his party who are in favor of remaining in the coalition. … As long as we remain inside, though, we are able to win some battles from within the government. Some of the internal Labor party problems are even due to our pressures from within the coalition…\"
\"We have our finger on the pulse, and if we see any [government] actions indicating that it is going off the path - such as giving away a millimeter of Eretz Yisrael, or even declarations that pave the way for giving it away - then we won\'t be there [in the government]. But it must be clear: Our goal is for Peres to leave the government, not us. At present we don\'t have the ability to bring down the government - if our 7 MKs leave, it will leave Sharon with \"only\" 74 MKs, instead of 81; this will certainly worry him tremendously - and will also make Peres happy and strengthen those in his party who are in favor of remaining in the coalition. … As long as we remain inside, though, we are able to win some battles from within the government. Some of the internal Labor party problems are even due to our pressures from within the coalition…\"