Eli Shtivi, father of Idan, who is held hostage in Gaza, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News about his decision to join the Yesh Atid faction meeting on Monday, in order to present his demand to the Knesset members and party chairman.
"I want to commend Yair Lapid, who always gives me the chance to talk and lets me join the faction meetings," Eli said and immediately added: "We must buckle down and join the public efforts to help each other. We must be united now."
Shtivi called on the Yesh Atid party members to rise above the differences with Netanyahu and join his government. "We are at the most difficult point in the history of the Jewish people and we must do it. You cannot split the country in two. We must be together."
According to Shtivi, just by looking into the eyes of the Knesset members, he sees that they have the same wish and in this spirit, he calls on them to put their differences aside at a time of war like this, during which many soldiers have fallen and many hostages are still in the hands of Hamas, we must also show the enemy that the people of Israel are united.
"We are united to bring them back and to win. We cannot let Hamas understand that it has the upper hand," he says, and referring to the decision of the National Unity party to leave the government, Shtivi said that last week he joined the party meeting and also asked them to return to the government, precisely from the position of Gantz and Eisenkot as two generals who understand the need for national responsibility in a time of war. "It's impossible. Go back and join again. This is a sane voice that is heard in the cabinet, and we want them inside."
Regarding the reactions to his claims from members of the Knesset, he says that when things are repeated over and over again, they permeate, partly to prevent legislation that he sees as problematic and unrepresentative of the spirit of the people. In this spirit, Shtivi also said to Avigdor Liberman's party: "I want him in the cabinet. Liberman is very important in the cabinet. We need people with Eastern and not Western thinking. We need him."
Referring to the demonstrations and protests calling for the overthrow of the government, he says that this is about the destruction of the state and the social infrastructure of Israeli society. "We are a population of 8-9 million people, and we must stand up for what we believe in and push the people and our leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, to victory. Support him. It is impossible to win when those inside the nation are repeatedly saying that we are losing. We are winning. We can do this and we only need the strength."