Likud MK Miri Regev, who is also a former Transportation Minister, on Saturday night told Channel 12 News that the light rail train "will not operate on Shabbat."
Outgoing Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor) promised last month that the light rail train in Tel Aviv, which is currently under construction, would operate on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. Jewish law does not permit transportation on Shabbat, other than in the case of a life-threatening emergency.
When told by her interviewer that she would be the "responsible adult" in the coalition, Regev responded, "You can't stand that [MK Benjamin] Netanyahu won. You are all smarting in the party of media studios that sat and engineered consciousness for months, but the public is smart and made its statement. The responsible adult is Netanyahu, who you eulogized."
Responding to the statement that she is the symbol of the left in the new government, she said, "I am not a left-wing symbol, I was never a left-wing symbol, Netanyahu is not a left-wing symbol."
"It worried me that the previous government was unable to do anything without the United Arab List (Ra'am) and they sat and waited for [anti-Zionist] Balad [to pass the electoral threshold]
[Otzma Yehudit chief MK Itamar] Ben-Gvir loves the State of Israel, he is Zionist, and we have a serious and responsible person leading the system, and that is Netanyahu. We were 12 years in power together with Shas and Religious Zionism, and now this is a signal to calm down."
"I have no doubt that I will be a senior minister," Regev added. "I am not busy right now with the division of portfolios... We are responsible and we want a stable government and we understand what the next steps are. The entire right-wing bloc understands, and therefore Netanyahu, I believe, within two weeks will form a good government."
"It's completely clear to me that I will be a senior minister - I have made revolutions, I have made reforms. I am in favor of the Override Clause. We don't know if it will happen."
Regarding Netanyahu's trial, Regev pointed out that the cases against him "are anyways falling apart and collapsing as time goes on. Don't get stressed out, be calm. We are coming to rule and to bring back national pride and personal security."
"The dictatorship that was in control in the previous government is unlike anything that has ever happened before. They did not respect the Attorney General who they appointed, they did not respect the Knesset's legal adviser. They all kept quiet, no one turned on the television. The redhead from the Movement for Quality Government (Eliad Shraga, the movement's founder and chairman - ed.) also fell asleep. I suggest everyone calm down. We are coming to do good for Israeli society."
Regarding the light rail train itself, she said, "Merav Michaeli is not relevant. I am sure that [former Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin himself would not have voted for Labor. She has destroyed Labor. The light rail train will not operate on Shabbat."