T. Belman. I have come to the same conclusion. Yamina will always lose out to Likud. So why not amalgamate with Likud and hold primaries. That way the people who have decidedly Zionist views will do better in the primaries. Thus they will have more influence in the expanded Likud than Yamina hopes to have in a right wing coalition.
MK Ayelet Shaked says left-wing majority includes MKs who want to erase Israel’s Jewish identity, calls on leftist parties to join right.
By Yoni Kempinski, INN
MK Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) on Saturday evening spoke to Arutz Sheva about the center-left’s attempt to pass a law banning Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from being tasked with forming a government.
“This legislation is anti-democracy,” she said. “It is unthinkable that the people of Israel went to elections when they knew that the law allowed a prime minister to continue serving even with indictments, and suddenly a new law should be passed. I believe that this won’t happen, no lawyer will think that this can be passed to apply to the current Knesset.”
Shaked also noted that any government which doesn’t include the right-wing parties must include the Joint Arab List. “They have a majority of 62 MKs together with MKs who don’t believe in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. There are some among them who explicitly support terrorism, such as MK Heba Yazbak. There are some among them who think that Israel needs to erase its Jewish identity. The hatred that three Chiefs of Staff have has made them go insane, if they want to form a government with the Joint Arab List.”
“The best thing to have happen, which will also lower the flames of hatred and allow the State to function, is that [Labor-Gesher-Meretz Chairman MK] Amir Peretz or [Blue and White Chairman MK] Benny Gantz should understand that the right-wing and Netanyahu have 58 MKs, and that one of them should join and together we’ll form a government. At the end of the day they have no problem with anyone in the bloc other than Netanyahu. Netanyahu was chosen by a large and varied public and you can’t ignore that. It would be good if one of them internalized this and redeemed us from this deadlock.”
Regarding the Religious Zionist community, Shaked said: “A significant portion of Religious Zionists chose to vote for the Likud. That makes me sad, because Yamina is the most ideological and varied party, and it represents a wide segment of the public. At the end of the day, when there is a head-to-head very aggressive battle, all the ideological parties are harmed. Note that Labor-Gesher-Meretz dropped from 11 Knesset seats to seven, and we dropped from seven to six.”
“We also make mistakes. We need to aim for a unification of Religious Zionist parties, and ahead of the next elections we need to hold primaries. That’s the most proper way to do it, in my eyes.”
Regarding her party’s position in the Knesset, she said: “The Likud has an important job – it’s the ruling party. The Religious Zionist party has a different task, no less important. It’s the ideological spine of the government in every area: diplomatic, legal, Jewish identity, and it also concerns itself with its sector’s needs.
“We first of all want there to be a government, and then we will make sure that Religious Zionism receives a place of honor in it. At the end of the day, we are going under the stretcher, and we didn’t answer Netanyhu’s attacks throughout our entire election campaign, so as not to harm the bloc.”
Regarding Shaked’s own future in Yamina, she said, “I think we need to aim for some kind of unity, and after that, ahead of the next elections, we need to hold primaries. That’s the best way to do it, in my eyes.”
@ Ted Belman, There are currently around one half of the voters for Yamina who are still loyal to the old National Religious Party and vote for the party because it is religiously and nationalistically orientated. Some of these voters might not vote for the Likud. So it is not for sure the Likud would get more seats.
Also in the Machavelli (Netenyahu) led Likud he has primary and almost sole decision making powers. So what you suggest might happen after Bibi retires from the scene someday.