Likud MK Miri Regev, who served as a minister in several governments under former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, joined Israel National News in the run-up to the elections to the 25th Knesset, to be held in November.
With the political scene once again in flux, with parties dissolving and new ones forming, Regev was scathing in her condemnation of one of the new alliances -- between Yamina party head Ayelet Shaked, once seen as a possible defector to Likud -- and the Derekh Eretz party of Yoaz Hendel.
Earlier on Sunday, Shaked, in conversation with Israel National News, insisted that she was "the" right-wing presence in the current government and that she would therefore not abandon it into the hands of the Left. According to Regev, this is a gross distortion of the reality.
"Is there anyone left on the Right who still believes Ayelet Shaked?" she asked. "This isn't a question that will go away, as long as she remains within the country's first-ever Israeli-Palestinian government, collaborating with Abbas. She's the one who forced Chikli out, who closed the door on Nir Orbach. Ayelet Shaked is part of the left-wing bloc. She was one of the main architects of this dreadful, dangerous government headed by Yair Lapid, Bennett, and Abbas. In the best-case scenario, she will cause right-wing votes to be wasted; in the worst-case scenario, she will take right-wing votes and hand them over to the Left," Regev alleged.
Regev did not spare other Yamina members from her scorn, singling out Bennett, Shaked, and also former Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana. "They caused damage to the Jewish identity of the State and wanted to turn the Western Wall into a Reform site," Regev said. "I told Matan Kahana that he had turned into a Hellenist in the way he was relating to our Jewish symbols."
In the previous round of elections, MKs Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Avi Maoz formed a technical bloc between their parties in order to ensure that the Religious Zionism faction would pass the electoral threshold. This time, however, negotiations between Smotrich and Ben Gvir seem to have reached an impasse, and Regev admitted she was concerned at the implications.
"I'm very worried," she said. "Look at what happened in the past when there was in-fighting among the right-wing parties -- we ended up with the Oslo Accords. Whoever wants to avert Oslo II should quickly figure out that we need to unite. They have to love our country more than their egos," she added, referring to Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. "They have to run together in order to ensure that we can attain right-wing goals. We need to make sure 300 thousand voters who didn't vote the last time around come out to vote this time. This can only achieved by unity. The Religious Zionism faction needs to think hard about all the wasted votes that went to the Jewish Home party in the past, to Yamina, to the New Right. We can't carry on treating voters like this."
The Likud party was instrumental in the last round of elections in securing a tactical alliance between Smotrich and Ben-Gvir -- would the party repeat its actions this time around?
"In the past, we worked to drum up votes for the Religious Zionism party, to make sure that they passed the electoral threshold," Regev replied. "Likud activists worked hard to achieve this goal, and this time, too, we will be working on behalf of the entire right-wing bloc, to make sure that after the elections, we establish a right-wing government headed by Netanyahu."
Asked to comment on recent ambiguous statements made by United Torah Judaism party head MK Moshe Gafni, regarding cooperation with Blue & White party head Benny Gantz, Regev said she was not unduly concerned. "We view the haredim as our natural partners and we also know what the Council of Torah Sages is going to instruct Gafni," she said. "Lapid is openly proud of the fact that haredim are not part of his government, and Liberman is still talking about wheelbarrows. All Gafni needs to do is get his voters out so that we can establish a national government."
With regard to the question of what is preferred -- a broad government, or a narrow government that is more ideologically homogenous -- Regev was open-minded. "We've had narrow governments in the past, governments formed of parties from the national camp, with everyone holding the same values, Zionism, Judaism, and a strong emphasis on security. But if there are other parties who want to be part of what we stand for then they're certainly invited to join. I don't rule out cooperation with any party that is willing to go along with the agenda that we are promoting."