Maariv’s political commentator, Ben Caspit, spoke this morning (Friday) with Nissim Mashaal on his program on 103FM, and referred to the situation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in polls, and the possibility that he will succeed in obtaining immunity or cancel his trial.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says ‘we are a step from the right-wing government in full’, but according to all the recent polls, including the poll I broadcast now, he is really not there. What do you think about this?
Why not? He could definitely be there. First of all, he is building on Naftali Bennett, and as soon as you add Bennett to him it is the step he is talking about. Now do not forget that Netanyahu is almost always valued for underestimating polls. What’s more, do not forget his plan, which in the meantime by the way probably will not take place and this is the worst news he could have received, and it is to announce the end of the corona and rest in heaven two or two weeks before the election. The variants disrupted this event for him.
So basically Netanyahu’s political fate depends on Naftali Bennett. How cruel.
Yes, it is true that we have known for quite some time. Bennett will be the king of kings, unless Netanyahu aggressively drinks it in the past week, lowering it to a single-digit number of seats, and with it he will not reach 61. At that moment the royal carriage turns into a pumpkin, and Bennett neither reigns nor reigns, and Netanyahu’s story is over, but we are not there. By the way, speaking of the right-wing government, someone tweeted all the headlines in Israel Today this week, which were published on the eve of the closing of the Knesset lists in the last three campaigns, and we have always been in the exact same story. “We are on the eve of a full-fledged right-wing government, we are like a right-wing full-fledged government step,” but whenever he can form such a government, he does not form it at the end and joins Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak, Yair Lapid, and the like. The thing is, he always returns to the same promise, and is always re-believed.
It’s just unbelievable. He declares that the people are tired of rotation, and I, the little one who knows nothing, state here that this is one of the most absurd declarations ever heard in Israeli politics – you can not get tired of something that did not happen. The rotation never happened by the way, for the simple reason that he signed an agreement he had no intention of keeping, and violated it a minute and a half after it was signed, and already in August he had to submit the biennial budget he just did not do it. His political partner Gantz revealed political laxity that is also unbelievable, and instead of exploding on him in August and saying to him ‘Sir, either you are keeping the agreement now or we are now falling apart’ he preferred to wait until October, then Gabi Ashkenazi is the one who gave the ultimatum. No one is ashamed to say that the people are tired of it, when he proposed it, and also in the second round with the president’s outline he proposed rotation. It is the most classic looted Cossack in the world.
I believe you also saw the Prime Minister’s interview with Udi Segal yesterday. He said there that the next government would not use him to evade trial. Do you believe him?
First of all he did not promise it. One should pay attention to every word he says, and even after he promises.
But that’s a direct quote.
This was Udi Segal’s question, he asked if the next government would not use him to evade trial, and he replied that he would not promote these laws. Ok. Then a satellite opponent will promote them or be filled. He also said ‘what the hell’ to the Marciano Foundation, then promoted all the things he told her not to promote. So if he does not promote then someone else will promote, then Mickey Zohar will promote, then he is the useful assistant who went to bring a million shekels from the Finance Committee to the Netanyahu family in the middle of the corona. How would Shimon Peres say? ‘I’m not into this.’ One should not believe a single word that Netanyahu says, and unfortunately the rabbi earned it honestly.
Can I conclude that he will use everything he has to cancel the trial?
If he has 61 hands, which is in great doubt, I do not see enough people raising their hands to a retroactive French law, For it is an appeal to all the foundations of the law, and it basically means that nothing is ever final, and a sentence that has already begun you can cancel in retrospect. I do not see Naftali Bennett, even if he joins the coalition raising his hand in favor of this thing, I do not see any other elements in the Likud. His mission is twofold – both to reach 61 and to persuade them to vote for it. By the way, the most amazing statistic is that 57 or 58 percent of all respondents in the poll said they did not want Netanyahu to continue to be prime minister after the election, compared to 33 percent who want to. This means that 33 percent is Netanyahu’s bloc. 70 percent of right-wing voters do not Want it to continue, and those are sentences that can not be ignored.These are dramatic numbers.
So from what I understand Netanyahu will do nothing to overturn the trial, but he will activate others who will?
Netanyahu no longer cares so much about lying, but he always leaves that path. I can already hear him say ‘Listen carefully to what I said to Udi Segal, I said I would not advance, I did not say there would be no law’.
Then Mickey Zohar our friend will execute it?
This is definitely an option. One way or another whoever thinks there will be an explicit commitment then knows that there is no such commitment.
Ben Caspit (Photo: Aloni Moore)The coalition’s chairman, MK Miki Zohar, then went on the air and responded to Caspit’s remarks.
Let’s wait a moment to continue the interview with Ben Caspit who referred to an interview that Udi Segal conducted with the prime minister: Netanyahu said in an interview that he would not promote laws that would get him out of court, but Caspit claims there will be someone else to do it, maybe Mickey Zohar. What do you think?
I think the Prime Minister’s words in yesterday’s interview were very clear. He said he would not promote a law, and said he did not need such a law because he knew unequivocally how the cases against him were collapsing, and he knew that with the help of the name he came out entitled in court. Netanyahu has explicitly said he trusts the court.
So you, Mickey Zohar, are telling me that you too will not be the executor of this thing?
I really think that to engage now in this legislation of French law or not French law is an attempt to divert attention from the thing that really matters and that is what Netanyahu is doing for all the citizens of Israel. I am also talking about bringing the vaccines to Israel, and also the attempt to take Israel and bring it to a real economic solution, and to return to the economic peak it was at before the Corona crisis. In addition, there is also the incredible diplomatic work that Netanyahu is doing for the benefit of the State of Israel around the world, and his war against the Iranian threat.
So let’s go back to the Prime Minister who said ‘a government I do not lead is a disease government’. Do you agree with that?
Look, that was a really innocent statement.
Is the prime minister an innocent person? I find it hard to believe.
He’s not an innocent person for sure, but he did not mean to belittle this matter related to Corona. He said one thing – this government is a sick government, and the parity story is sick and there should be no such thing. Politically ill of course. This statement was perfectly clear, and people try to associate this statement as if to disparage Corona, but it is really a complete lie.
Look, he said the people are tired of rotation, but what to do that you violated the agreement and we did not experience rotation because you violated the agreement.
The person who violated the agreement is Bnei Gantz because from day one he did not really see us as partners.
Because from day one you ran over him.
Not true.
This poor man did not even have 100 days of grace.
Miracles, I was there and I can tell you that in the early days the ministers of Blue and White headed by Avi Nissenkorn constantly attacked the Prime Minister, and did not even open the door a bit. They kept showing us a cold shoulder. Then it got worse on both sides, until it exploded and we went to the polls
Mickey, recovering history is a very easy task, but it was not. What you are saying is far from the truth. After all, when Bibi says that the people are tired of rotation, it does not make sense because we have not experienced it.
In retrospect, it’s good it’s over. We see the conduct of Bnei Gantz and if he had been Prime Minister of the State of Israel it would not have been in good shape. Good thing it didn ‘t happen. More than that, I think the sole culprit in the story is actually Benny Ganz.
Tell me something: you see the polls, and contrary to what Benjamin Netanyahu says, you are really a step away from forming a right-wing government, the numbers show otherwise. The election is far from decisive.
I completely agree with you that the election is far from decisive, but in the same breath one can say that there is a way to decide them. What do you mean? That if and when we succeed in reaching a situation where on election day the turnout in the right-wing strongholds will be high, we will win the election with the help of the name. Our job, at the end of the day, is to wake up the area. I would like to announce that the Prime Minister and I are discussing ways to wake up the Likud territory and hope that next week there will be a line around the Likud.
In a poll I saw yesterday, 58 percent do not want Netanyahu as prime minister.
I’ll tell you something, our way is not the way of the Americans, and in order to determine who will be prime minister we need to know what the leaders of the elected parties will say. Beyond that, in these polls you do not always manage to reflect the true will of the voters. The only way to be prime minister in Israel is not through flattering polls, but through 61 MKs who decide you will be prime minister, and in our case we do not lack much.
You do not have Bennett.
Bennett is not in our pocket, he clearly says he will do anything to replace Netanyahu, the issue of rotation has no feasibility. This is not the right thing to do, neither rotation nor prowess. The right thing to form a regular government, there will be no rotation, no Bennett, no storm or no torch, it will be either Netanyahu, the prime minister, or the prime minister’s torch. Neither Bennett nor Saar will get the rotation from Lapid because he will get 20 seats.