Smotrich: Arab parties are the enemy, no government can depend on them
In Sa-Nur, Smotrich clarified that the only option was a government with Likud, Shas, UTJ, Yamina and New Hope. Then, he would demand the settlement be rebuilt.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: APRIL 15, 2021 22:05Religious Zionist party head Bezalel Smotrich in Sa-Nur, April 15, 2021. (photo credit: ELICHAI MENACHEM)
Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich called Israeli-Arab political parties "enemies" who support terror and pledged to not join any government that is dependent on them either from the outside or from inside the coalition."I am saying this unequivocally and without any hesitation," said Smotrich.He spoke at an Independence Day rally on the ruins of the demolished Sa-Nur settlement in the northern Samaria region of the West Bank.'I am announcing here, in this place, in Sa-Nur, that we will oppose anyone who thinks he is forming a government that will make the State of Israel dependent on enemies and supporters of terrorism," Smotrich said.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's best chance at forming at government at present appears to be a coalition that would include Religious Zionist, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Yamina as well as the Israeli-Arab party Ra'am either as a party that would support the government from outside or possibly as part of the coalition.However, Smotrich is vehemently opposed to any government option that would include Ra'am and has said that he would prefer it to a coalition with Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope Party. Sa'ar, meanwhile, has refused to join a Netanyahu-led government. Smotrich's rejection of a government dependent in some way on an Israeli-Arab party would, therefore, likely squash any chance Netanyahu has of forming a coalition.Netanyahu's core base is his 30-seat Likud Party, Shas with nine seats and United Torah Judaism with seven seats for a total of 46 seats. To get to 61, he would need Smotrich's party with its six seats, as well as Naftali Bennett's Yamina party with its seven seats, giving him 59.His options, then, are New Hope, which would give him a coalition, or the Ra'am party, which could ensure a government.In Sa-Nur, Smotrich clarified that the only option was a government with Likud, Shas, UTJ, Yamina and New Hope.Regarding the Israeli-Arab parties, including Ra'am, Smotrich said, "To our sorrow we are speaking of parties of enemies that support terror and that reject our existence here. They are not a legitimate partner.
"This is the most pragmatic stance in the world. When one understand the short and long term implications of having the government dependent on them" then they would know, "that this can never happen," he explained.Smotrich called instead for all the parties of the national camp to unit and form a government, thereby breathing into existence a stable right-wing government.Once that happens, he said, he would include a demand that Israel rebuild Sa-Nur and the three other northern Samaria settlement that were destroyed in 2005 as part of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, himself an evacuee of Sa-Nurr called on Netanyahu and the right wing parties to place rebuilding the four demolished communities at the top of the next government's agenda.Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan at Sa-Nur, April 15, 2021. (Credit: ELICHAI MENACHEM)"This mistake can be corrected. The Jewish people live. The Jewish people will be victorious and return to northern Samaria," Dagan said.
