Moshe Gafni
Moshe GafniShmulik Grossman, Knesset spokesperson

The chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), believes that the next Prime Minister after the election will be Binyamin Netanyahu.

"Netanyahu is the one who will be elected. He will have enough votes, more than 61 seats, to be able to form a right-wing coalition - religious and haredi," Gafni said in an interview with Walla! News.

Asked what will happen if Netanyahu finds it difficult to form a government after the election, he responded, "We'll talk then. I have never gone with anyone else, not everyone can say it like I can. This has been the directive of the Council of Torah Sages since Degel Hatorah was established."

Gafni was asked about the possibility that Netanyahu heads the next coalition, and a bill to postpone his trial is tabled in the Knesset. Gafni refused to answer and only said that "I do not trust the decisions of the Attorney General."

He criticized the Supreme Court in the interview, saying, "My vision is that the State of Israel will be a more Jewish state without the Supreme Court removing another part every day. This is where United Torah Judaism has failed. We sought to bring the Overrule Clause for approval, [Moshe] Kahlon objected, every time it was someone else. This time it will not happen, this time there will be a decision, we will not agree to be in the coalition without there being order when it comes to the court."

Gafni commented on the possibility that votes of haredim would go to MK Bezalel Smotrich's party. "I'm not afraid of Smotrich. The haredi public is an intelligent public. We had a difficult year, I think in the end they will vote for United Torah Judaism."

One of the interviewers wondered if a person voting for Smotrich is not considered by Gafni to be haredi, to which he replied, "He may be haredi - but he’s stupid."

Gafni also commented on the Shas party and said, "Shas is a haredi party, I am not an Ashkenazi party, I help the entire public."

He was asked whether he thinks there is a place in today's reality for parties based on origin, to which he replied, "Yes there is, what can we do? The secularists have Bennett and Smotrich, Lapid and Benny Gantz. I once proposed the formation of one party. Aryeh Deri's claim was that ‘many vote for us because they are Sephardim’.I made the offer, he did not want to do it."