Less than a week to the elections: The Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties held a joint election conference in the city of Sderot on Wednesday evening with the participation of hundreds of activists and residents, including the head of the Hesder yeshiva in Sderot, Rabbi David Fendel.
At the joint meeting, which was held at the community center in Sderot, Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich dismissed the pressures being exerted on Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu by world leaders not to include Itamar Ben Gvir in a future coalition.
"I have already heard that Biden's US administration is exerting pressure on the issue, and that other elements in Middle Eastern countries are pressuring Netanyahu not to include us in the government. I am not ready to accept the interference of foreign countries, and certainly not of our ally the United States in the elections and Israeli democracy," said Smotrich.
"The only way to leave the choice in our hands and prevent interference and pressure from outside is if the right gets 61 seats and we win more seats than Gantz," he added.
The chairman of the Religious Zionism Party called on the Likud to stop the attacks within the right-wing bloc, saying, "I also call on my friends and partners in the Likud, in the last few days until the elections, let's join hands as we did successfully last year and work together to reach 61 seats. The internal wars will not help us. We need to work in a positive manner."
"We now have the responsibility to act together to grow the bloc and maximize the votes of right-wing people throughout the country and thus win the elections and establish a Jewish, national and Zionist government," Smotrich emphasized in his speech.
One of the participants in the conference interrupted Smotrich and asked, "How can you support Netanyahu when he has three indictments?" Smotrich did not agree to have her removed, and replied to her, "Netanyahu is a great leader, he has been legally persecuted in recent years to remove the right from power."