Former Justice Minister: The Likud doesn’t want a Justice Minister and a Defense Minister from religious Zionism.
Arutz Sheva Staff,
Ayelet Shaked-Kobi Richter/TPS
Former Justice Minister MK Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) spoke about Prime Minister Binyamin’s Netanyahu’s behavior toward her party, commented on her relations with Naftali Bennett and discussed her opinion on Rabbi Rafi Peretz’s statements against the LGBT community.
In an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper, Shaked said, “In the first round of elections, had it not been for Netanyahu, we would have had a strong and stable right-wing government today. On Friday, five days before the April elections, I called one of the people closest to Netanyahu and told him: ‘He is running a ‘gevalt’ (scare tactics -ed.) campaign, one of the parties in the bloc will collapse for sure, and he will have no government.’”
“At that point, I didn’t believe it would be us [who would collapse]. Kahlon, Liberman, Shas and us were not far from the electoral threshold. That person said to me: ‘You’re right, but that’s what Netanyahu decided to do.’ I replied: ‘OK, I wish Netanyahu luck’, and the conversation was over.”
“What happened next? Exactly what I predicted. The New Right did not pass the threshold, and I think the Likud was happy about that. At that point, they did not imagine Liberman not going into a government with them. Netanyahu only fights us. He said above every stage: ‘Don’t vote for Yamina, vote for then Likud’. He didn’t say, ‘Don’t vote for Shas, vote for the Likud.’ He didn’t say, ‘Don’t vote for United Torah Judaism, vote for the Likud.’ He only said not to vote for Yamina. That’s pathological,” continued Shaked.
She added, “The Likud does not want a Justice Minister and a Defense Minister from religious Zionism. We challenge them. When Bennett and I went into politics, we introduced a plan to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, while the Prime Minister released terrorists in the Shalit deal.”
Regarding Bennett, who initiated and led the process of the establishment of the New Right which did not pass the electoral threshold in the first round of elections and has ascended to the post of Defense Minister, Shaked said, “The Prime Minister offered us two options – either get two ministerial portfolios – a choice between Diaspora Affairs, Welfare or Agriculture – or one portfolio for Naftali, the Defense portfolio. Naftali called me, we consulted, and I thought it would be the right thing for him to take the Defense portfolio. First and foremost for the benefit of the country, which did not have a Defense Minister for a year and a half, but also because no one is more deserving of this role than Naftali.”
“The agreement between us is that we receive equal portfolios, but this time I chose to relinquish mine, so that he would receive the Defense portfolio. Next time I will not relinquish two equal portfolios. Meanwhile, I’m getting along fine without being a minister.”
On her relationship with Bennett after what they have been through for the past year, she said, “We are full partners. Political life has a lot of difficult situations and tests, but when there is real trust, it is possible to overcome the crises. Naftali and I are not friends outside of work, our families do not spend time together. But at work, we know how to work together excellently.”
MK Shaked commented on Rabbi Rafi Peretz’s recent statements about the LGBT community, which were preceded by his remarks on conversion therapy for gays, and answered the question of whether those comments harmed the party among secular and liberal groups.
“I really hope not. I say to all the supporters of the New Right – You have Naftali, you have me, Matan Kahana, Idit Silman, Sarah Beck and Shirley Pinto. We are all very liberal and enlightening.”
“Rabbi Rafi had some very unsuccessful statements that should not have been said. I certainly oppose the remarks that were attributed to him and in no way identify with them. I have already said that if it were my children who would tell me they are gay – I would accept, respect and love them, without a shadow of a doubt. That’s obvious. But Rabbi Peretz is not only a few superfluous statements. He is a pilot in the Air Force, an educator of generations of students, a man who, after being thrown out of Gush Katif, established a new community in Holot Halutza with his own hands.”
Shaked continued, “One must not erase an entire person, and moreover, you have to look at the entire slate. I understand that there is a liberal audience that is having difficulty with these statements, but there is no party where 100 percent of candidates are completely accepted by all the voters. Rabbi Rafi and I are different, but we live together in one party.”
“Just like Shlomo Karhi the national haredi, who said that the pride parades are not natural, and he lives with Amir Ohana in the Likud. Just like Yael German lives with Bogie Ya’alon in Blue and White. It’s time to stop being picky about us. Candidates from other parties are never demonized as much as we are,” she concluded.
Oy Veh
Would you believe it…”Oy Veh” is in Moderation. Disqus has gone crazy.. Is this happening to everybody …??
TEEEDDD….Oh TEEEDD…!! ( just my odd sense of humour)
My comment is still in blasted “Moderation” for no reason I can discern.This interrupts the flow of any conversation. and, although I know that when new systems are introduced, there are many “teething pains” ….as we have experienced here.
AGAIN my simple comment is in MODERATION….which for such a very moderate comment it is a thousand miles from needing “moderation’.
I hope Ted is going to do something about this very soon
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Yes of course I know this, which is why I mentioned her talking about “the good of the country” This was a reference to your reprint, and a criticism of her present stance.
We are both on the same page here as we most often are. We have the same opinions of what Israel should be doing, and where the Arabs should be “consigned”….
Ge Hinnom, merely a dumping ground for ancient Jerusalem’s garbage, became, in Christian usage “Gehenna”….meaning just about where the Arabs should go.
For the first time since (many years ago, feeling insulted) I originally left this site for this reason, I see “my comment is awaiting moderation”. Disqus is taking it’s duties very seriously.
@ Edgar G.:
She said the opposite in this interview. “The Prime Minister offered us two options – either get two ministerial portfolios – a choice between Diaspora Affairs, Welfare or Agriculture – or one portfolio for Naftali, the Defense portfolio. Naftali called me, we consulted, and I thought it would be the right thing for him to take the Defense portfolio. First and foremost for the benefit of the country, which did not have a Defense Minister for a year and a half, but also because no one is more deserving of this role than Naftali.”
She’s talking through the back of her head. Rather than have Bennett, the best defence minister we’ve had for many years, she’d rather have him the minister of transport and/ or herself as minister for Diaspora Affairs . Two comparatively obscure and powerless positions.
And her talking about “the good of the country”…..
All three conducted during the past month by the Direct Polls organization (aka Direct Pulse, Direct Politics) have the Right block doing better than the polls by the other polling organizations. Two of these three Direct Polls put the Right bloc and Likud ahead. Also, all three Direct polls have a lower margin of err that the polls by the other organizations–1-2% as opposed to 3-5% for the other organizations–apperently because Direct Polls takes larger samples of voters for their polls. I find this at least mildly encouraging. A ray of hope. Perhaps they have measured the “pulse” of the electorate better than the other polling groups. Nearly all of the others havs have leftist connections.
A poll that showed the Right bloc getting more seats in the march 2 elections than the Left bloc was not reported in any of the English-language Israeli newspapers except Arutz Sheva. Instead, they reported two othe polls taken the same day that showed the Left bloc’s lead continuing and expanding. Arutz Sheva also quickly reported one of these polls, conducted by Maariv, and immediately gave it more prominence than the more “optimistic poll,” conducted by Shlomo Filber of the Direct Pulse polling organization.
Yet there is reason to believe that the poll which showed the Likud and its Allies making gains was the accurate one. An article that was published in Yeshiva World News, a haredi paper, pointed out that the Direct Pulse poll had questioned nearly 3,000 people, more than five times the number consulted by the other polls. In addition, Mr. Filber told the YWN reporter that he had made a special effort to reach both haredi and Arab voters who are normally not polled, because they do not have computers or mobile phones, or were otherwise difficult for pollsters to reach. Many of these people are never polled before the election, but find their ways to an election booth when the real election is held.
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/1833828/new-poll-shows-blue-and-white-declining-as-right-wing-and-chareidim-rise.html