Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) is not impressed by recently published flattering polls, some of which have predicted 12 to 13 seats for the Jewish Home party in the upcoming elections.
"We are taking off in the polls," she told Arutz Sheva in an interview, adding, "The public needs to understand that anyone who wants a right-wing government should vote only for the Jewish Home. There was already a government headed by Netanyahu in 2009 together with Ehud Barak, and it was a completely left-wing government that froze construction in Judea and Samaria, released thousands of terrorists and we also got the Bar-Ilan speech. In the end, it is the coalition partners who determine the character of the government."
Shaked stressed that the question of whether there will be a right-wing government or a left-wing government depends on the size of the Jewish Home party.
She was asked whether the initiative promoted by her and party chairman Naftali Bennett, that would open the Jewish Home party to members of other sectors, will lead to the loss of the party's national religious identity.
Shaked responded emphatically, "No, this is a national religious party based on the values of religious Zionism. If there are people who are like me, who believe in the same values but were not members of Bnei Akiva, then it is definitely possible [to have them join the party]. The party’s identity will certainly be maintained.”
Shaked continued by sending a clear message to the voters of the nationalist camp. "I trust that the public appreciates the hard work of all the members of our faction during this past Knesset term, and the fact that we are the only right-wing party. If we have a lot of power, there will be a right-wing government."
Earlier on Sunday, the Jewish Home Central Committee approved changes to the Jewish Home constitution that were promoted by Bennett.
After the changes were approved, Bennett took the stage and said, "This is how a democratic party looks. I was born to two parents who were neither religious nor even traditional, and even when they arrived in Israel, they were far from any spark of tradition."
"The Torah does not belong only to the religious and the Jewish tradition, the Kiddush and Bar Mitzvah are not only for the religious. They are the property of all the people of Israel. There is an attempt by the extreme left to exclude any trace of tradition. I, as education minister, will strive to inform the students who the forefathers were, who the sages were, what a page of Gemara looks like, but I will never tell people what to believe,” he added.
Bennett stressed that the next Knesset elections will not be centered around the identity of the next Prime Minister. "That will be Netanyahu. The elections will be about whether the Jewish Home wins and draws to the right or we vote right and get left instead."
"We are pulling to the right while Liberman, Kulanu, and Yesh Atid are pulling to the left. The time has come to vote right and get a right-wing [government, and the public will understand that we will be the senior partners in the government,” he concluded.