MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has not given up on his desire to lead the Likud party, and intends to run head-to-head against former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, if Netanyahu does not quit politics.
"I began my run three months ago, and even then I said that no one has the right to tell Netanyahu to leave," Edelstein told 103 FM Radio. "We are deep in the opposition. If I stand at the head of the Likud, no one has any doubt that in this Knesset, without going to elections, I will be able to form a government and to truly run Israel."
"At the end of 2022, we are holding primaries to the Likud conference," he said. "More and more people are talking about how it's also when there are primaries for the Likud leadership."
"The attitude towards Likud voters, that they are all blind idiots going blindly after someone, is a condescending attitude. Many of them understand that we lost power and we won't return to power if we don't do a real internal soul-searching."
When asked if he intends to beat Netanyahu in their party's primaries, he responded, "That's exactly my intention."
When asked about the management of the pandemic, Edelstein said, "I could laugh,if I didn't see the statistics. Israel is simply not being run. The government has thrown the economy on the ground and given up. The policy of, 'sit and do nothing,' I don't call that a policy. No one has any idea how many cases we have in the country and what is really happening with regards to the spread of the virus. They've compromised on everything. The government is not capable of making decisions, and it's taking the most populist path."