United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chairman MK Moshe Gafni strongly criticized Shas chairman Aryeh Deri during the haredi Kol Chai Radio conference Thursday evening.
"Why does anyone imagine that I will go with these fools and villains, whoever says all the time that I will go with the left went with them himself and brought Oslo," Gafni said, referring to Deri.
He added, "I have been attacked in the last few days claiming that I am supposedly going with Lapid, I told my assistants not to worry, as the days go by they will attack me even more, they will only stop when I do. I talked to Lapid about something about the Foreign Ministry. With Kahana, Hendel, Liberman and certainly Bennett, I do not talk, but with all the others yes. This nonsense that because they saw me with Lapid, the Joint Liist voted one way or another, is nonsense that is not even suitable for a kindergarten."
Gafni explained why he believes a new government should be formed in the current Knesset instead of holding new elections. "We went to the polls four times, nothing changed. We suffer the most because the haredi families, children and haredi localities suffer the most from this government. Not the children of the Likud voters. My first priority is an alternative government in this Knesset. There is a clear majority for the right and the religious. The people voted for a right-wing government led by Netanyahu. If faced with the choice to continue the malicious government or elections, I will go to the polls."
Regarding the possibility of the Likud replacing its leader, he said: "There are some things I do not interfere in. I cannot tell the Likud, which is the largest party in the Knesset, who they should put at the head of the party. If they decide it is someone else we will go with him. We keep saying we are with the Likud, the right and the religious. There are no other options."
"We go with the right, more so than any other party, including the [other] haredim- I have never gone with the left, for me it is almost a Torah prohibition. Rabbi Shach never agreed to this. But talking all the time about elections I think is the wrong thing to do. I would rather try to form a government in the current Knesset," he concluded.