Yael Sara Rep, Benzi Rubin, knitted news08.28.22 12:26 A. in Elul Tishfav
Photo: Yonatan Zindel (Flash 90)
MK Bezalel Smotrich was interviewed by ‘Srougi’ after the signing of the union with the ‘Otzma Yehudit’ party which was signed in the agreement on Friday. Smotrich emphasized that “it is necessary to explain to the people of Israel in the next two months the magnitude of the hour, how critical this intersection that the State of Israel is facing is.”
How do you feel after signing the agreement?
“I think we did the right thing, we are looking forward to maximizing the benefits of this connection, working hard and overcoming the difficulties it causes in certain areas of our electorate, in the end the goal is to maximize our representation in the party and the bloc and cross the threshold of 61, I hope even more than that.’
What electoral difficulties are you talking about?
“It’s no secret that there are around 2-3 mandates that are sitting on the fence today and it’s hard for them to vote for us and it’s hard for them to vote for Likud – they are completely ours, they are ours not in the possessive sense, but they are ours, they are right-wing and they are national religious and they really want good things for the people of Israel. And it’s hard for them for all kinds of reasons, they don’t feel sufficiently represented today.’
“We will try very hard within this togetherness to maintain our identity and our uniqueness and to be a broad and large religious Zionist party and to give space to all shades. We will work hard to reach them and explain to them the gist and blandness and how critical the situation is now and to convince them of the sincerity of our intentions.’
I mean, you’re not talking about armor in the list, but about convincing the public?
“There are all kinds of ways, some of them are certainly also related to the organization of the list and there is still time for that. We as religious Zionists over time really plan to be a home for everyone and give expression to all voices and all shades. Part of this I think we succeeded in the democratic process we did, in functioning, in the primaries, with the feeling that everyone can be a part, in fact that we handed the keys to the public.’
What about the Noam party?
“We have two more weeks and we will continue to work hard to connect them as well.”
How many mandates will you bring together?
“Our potential is very great – we have also proven our ability to stick to values and principles and that we don’t get confused along the way even though there were some who did get confused, and we proved that we come to work and I think we have a very idealistic, very talented, very friendly group of people in both parties.”
What will it be like to work with Ben Gvir now?
“It will be excellent as it was last time, we both want the good of the people of Israel and the State of Israel, we both want the good of the national camp, we both want the good of the joint party. We know how to put everything aside, join hands now, take a good look at a strategy and that everyone brings their relative advantages to this connection so that this connection maximizes itself.’
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