Interior Minister says Opposition leader will have no choice but to change tack and help Jewish Home party if it strengthens in the polls.
Jewish Home chairwoman Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has said in closed conversations that if her part reaches 2.5% in the polls, Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu will step in to help the party pass the electoral threshold, Kan Reshet Bet reported Sunday morning.
Shaked was asked in the talks how she will be able to close the gap between what her party receives in the polls and the electoral threshold. In response to the question, she replied: “The task is not to reach the electoral threshold, which stands at 3.25%. Rather, it is enough that we stand at 2.5 – 2.7% and then Netanyahu will take care of getting us past the electoral threshold.”
In doing so, she is telling her people that if her party gets stronger, then Netanyahu will have no choice and he will order the Likud party to stop attacking her and will even help them the way he helps the Religious Zionism party,
@Ber
I see things in a different light but from similar perspective to your own.
It should be noted that there is a distinct advantage for the Right to see Jewish Home pass the threshold, and this is entirely irrelevant to my intense disappointment with Shaked over the past year, and yes, I am phrasing this quite mildly. When Shaked moved to the right, to gain the support of Jewish Home she did so to regain some support from the Right, which is why she has also made her public apology to her supporters for her actions over the past 15 months. Despite this, some would suggest that Shaked is not to be trusted in this coming election because of these very actions. I would suggest, however, that this election has nothing to do with Shaked, nor of her endless quarrel with Smotrich nor the longer one she has with Bibi. Quite frankly, this election is about the future and survival of the Israeli state itself. There is nothing more important than being able to gain 61 MKs to form a Right wing govt and end this current outrage being conducted by an unrestrained Leftist Caretaker govt. Consequently , the only question at hand is whether Bibi can definitely gain 61 MKs without Jewish Home. I think that the current polling demonstrates that this is far from certain and likely doubtful. Consequently, Bibi needs Jewish Home in the Knessett.
Should the Right fail to win this election and form a govt, it will not matter if the Left form a govt or simply continue to rule in the capacity they hold currently. The Left are in a position to significantly extend the damage which they have already caused by being in power, and should Bibi fail to form a govt, even if the Left fail as well, we are looking at waiting for another round of elections during which time Lapid will remain PM.
Circling back to Shaked, she has no where to go besides the Right, and even if she sought to strike a bargain with Gantz and his Leftists, which she won’t, all she could bring to him is her own vote, as Jewish Home has already demonstrated that they are of the Right before they are supporters of Shaked. Jewish Home is not Yamina, and Shaked might lead them, but only so far as they support her actions, and this should give everyone of the Right some comfort in supporting them. This was seen when they required her to publicly declare her support for the creation of a Right wing govt before they would join with her. Consequently, the risk of Shaked doing something reckless is quite remote, and the benefit of having Jewish Home pass the threshold remains as a vital necessity for the Right.
Hence, victory for the Right requires Jewish Home in the Knessett, and for this, the Right must focus upon what is most important to the state and ignore the petty squabbles preventing good governance from taking place. After all, isn’t this all too similar to what we are criticizing the Left for doing when they refused to form a govt with Bibi?
What kind of game are Bennett and Shaked playing?
😀
@Ber {Shaked} is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” – Forest Gump ?
I used to be a Shaked supporter. Not anymore. Like Bennet, she betrayed her voting base in favour of a dangerous coalition of leftists and Islamists. It was hard to believe. She was also in favour of jailing those who chose not to take the jab of poison. So, as far as I’m concerned she should go find something else to do and Bibi should offer her no support no matter what percentage she gets.