Chairman Right Naftali Bennett Talked this morning (Wednesday) with Golan Yokfaz and Anat Davidov on 103FM, and commented on the battle elections and the state of the corona in the country. Bennett criticized Finance Minister Israel Katz following his statement that there would be no more closures and claimed that “this is an irresponsible and serious statement.” In the context of the opening of Ben Gurion Airport, he said that he “looks at the corona in this context as terrorism. 50 years ago “We were full of terrorist attacks in the air and hijacked planes. Israel did not close the borders. What did it do? Tests.”
Naftali Bennett in an interview about the Corona failures at the Marciano Foundation (Photo: News 12)
You told Yonit Levy yesterday that your special ability is to produce a structure that will cause Netanyahu to be replaced without kicking him. Explain the practice to us?
“Look, there is an endless preoccupation with ‘Yes Bibi’ and ‘No Bibi’. I know how to commit to what we can do, I know how to create 400,000 jobs for Israelis, and dismantle the land monopoly in order to lower apartment prices, I know how to bring back “Governance of the Negev, these are the things I know how to do. I am under a lot of pressure to support Netanyahu and the right-wing bloc, but I think it is time to replace Netanyahu, but the public will decide. At the moment, my whole occupation is to gain power so that once the government is formed we can work.”
I mean, you need more seats, but right now that’s not what’s actually happening?
“We definitely need more seats. True. Let’s strike a balance – we are with over 5,400 dead, one million unemployed, 100,000 businesses collapsed, and 2 million children stranded at home. We are at war. Our voters and the general public are interested in how to bring people back from unemployment. .
We’ll talk about it soon, but in the meantime can you tell us who will not be in this bloc of yours, in this bunch of yours that you are going to form?
“I have always said: Anyone who is in favor of a democratic Jewish state.”
- 2021 Elections: All the polls, articles and interpretations of leading reporters on the Maariv website
By the way, I heard you talk about personal security in the Negev and the protection phenomenon. This is a new card because you understand that it is difficult to rely only on the Corona and Netanyahu is doing a good job in the Corona overall?
“No. It is not related, and I am not at all looking for what others say, but what the reality is. The reality is that for 12 years, under the watch of the Prime Minister of the Negev has become a wild place, by the way the Galilee and the city of Lod. I’m not blaming all the Bedouin, but there are Bedouin crime gangs who come to business owners and tell him that if they do not pay NIS 4,000 a month they will burn down the store. By the way, the highlight was when robbers entered a private house at night to rob, and see There’s a 10 year old girl inside her house in the most protected place, and they just raped her. I did not hear a word from the government, not a word. There is no Minister of Internal Security, I am Minister of Defense, there is no Prime Minister.
I’m not going to give grades right now, but once you import all the mutations from around the world into Israel for ten months it leads to the fact that there are currently dozens of young people, children, and even babies hospitalized and sick in Corona. I’m not going to make an epidemiological argument, but the question is how do we really get out of it, and more than that how the day after we find a job for everyone. Today, do nothing. No training, no vocational retraining, no business building, just more and more burdensome on business owners with more taxes.
But still, the Likud is climbing, or at least the prime minister’s grades are climbing.
“Look, I’ll put it this way: the public will ultimately be the one to decide. I’m telling the public that it could be much better here, and fast. We can quickly storm and clear Israel of the corona that we will not be dependent on one mutation or another, and also take care of the economy. We can quickly do what has not been done here for 12 years in the matter of housing. ”
In the first round you did not pass. How will you suddenly jump to 13 and even 15 seats? How do you think this will really happen?
“The only way we can grow with it is if the public understands that Bennett is strong in the government and Bennett is strong in the Knesset with a lot of power, he can solve the real problems here.”
What does it mean to be strong in the government and strong in the Knesset? You no longer want to be prime minister?
“No. The stronger we become, the more I will be able to form a government. My ultimate vision, and the big goal is to build a missionary government that, within days of taking office, will start operating and cleaning entire cities. Once we have power, the State of Israel will turn green, people will return to work, and business. Little ones will prosper. “
Do you think we are in danger of a fifth closure? Is this something that could happen?
“No one can say there will be no more closure.”
The finance minister said there would be no more closures here.
“I think this is an irresponsible and not serious statement. I am not a commentator, but all I see is that we open up the morbidity, and when we close then it goes down accordingly. This accordion method is a terrible method. I want a method where you clean space and then open everything inside The space – both studies and employment. ”
So in this state of illness you would not have opened your studies?
“I would do something else – clean and open. Today you can do two million tests a day, but you don’t do it in Israel. You can clean the infected and let them go to good hotels, ‘Bennett Hotels’, not the crumbling hotels that exist today. In general, when I set up “I went down to the hotels for details and chose five-star hotels not for nothing. I knew it was critical that the experience be good, otherwise people would cheat. In the end, there are a lot of details here and like in high-tech – you need creativity.”
By the way, Ben Gurion Airport is about to open slowly and this is something you insist on not happening. No?
“I am not against the opening of Ben Gurion Airport, I am actually in favor of it, but with tests. Look, I look at the corona in this context as terrorism. Fifty years ago there were attacks in the air and we were hijacked by planes. Israel has not closed its borders. what did she do? Tests. “Before you get on a plane, there is the initial interrogation, the second interrogation, there is the X-ray and somehow they managed for 50 years that there will be no hijackings of planes and there were flights.”
Not sure this is the most successful comparison.
“This is a great comparison because it shows that in the face of a very significant threat, with a little common sense and execution you solve the problem.”
Do you recognize defectors at Gideon Saar?
“Listen, there is their history and eight of the opening ten sat in Netanyahu’s government and did other artificial resuscitation.”
Are you talking about them? You do not say whether you will sit with Netanyahu or not.
“Look, say a little and do a lot, but there they say a lot and do a little. Take a rule: the more people shout, shave their mustaches and sign statements, the less they act. After all, I am on the right, and again I have enormous pressure to say only Netanyahu and I I will benefit from it, but I’m not saying this not just because of political gain, but really because I think it’s time to replace it.It will not be a disaster for the State of Israel if one day we get up in the morning and have a new prime minister, I hope it will be me, the country will prosper, And everything will be fine. ”
My question is very simple – do you recognize potential defectors in Gideon Saar’s party right now?
“I am not a commentator on the affairs of this party.”
But you say there have never been cases.
“What were these cases? You know, too. Hauser and Handel did not speak and swore not to sit with Netanyahu and in the end what happened? Now because they went with Saar, so they will not defect again?”