In an interview with the "Makan" radio station yesterday, Sayid Badran, advisor to United Arab List (Ra'am) MK Walid Taha, stated that "if we had a permanent government there would not have been a military operation in Gaza, since we would have prevented it."
After his statement was made public, the advisor clarified that he is not the party's spokesperson and that "the statements that I made during the interview for Makan radio, were my personal opinion, and do not reflect the United Arab List's opinion".
MK Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist party responded to Badran's statements: "on Sunday I said on Kan News that the opposition deserves the credit for the operation in Gaza and that it was only possible to carry out because the government collapsed. Today, after Sayid Badran's statement we can be more specific: because of the "Religious Zionist Party", which made clear to everyone that we can't even imagine creating a government that depends on people that support terror".
Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana called the advisor's statement "nonsense" and added that after nearly a year in the defense cabinet "I can bear witness that the coalition's makeup never came into consideration when it came to defense decisions. The nation's defense was and still is in good hands".
Religious Zionism party chairman Bezalel Smotrich responded by saying "listen to Walid Taha's assistant. We insisted and now everyone knows that we were right: you can't form a government that's supported by people who support terror. It endangers the state of Israel. With G-d's help and with the power that you will give us we will make sure that this doesn't happen again".