New Hope party chairman Minister Gideon Sa'ar claimed Sunday morning that his decision to run together with the Blue and White party is meant to prevent opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu from achieving a 61-seat majority in the upcoming elections this Fall.
"If the campaign had developed as Bibi versus Lapid, in my estimation Bibi would have reached 61 mandates and more. In my opinion, Lapid has no realistic possibility of forming the next government," Sa'ar said in an interview with Ynet.
Sa'ar claimed that the purpose of running together with Blue and White was not to save the New Hope party from failing to pass the electoral threshold. "In all the polls that have been conducted since we declared elections, New Hope would have passed in any case," he said.
We have 14 in one poll, we have 13 in another poll. There is one thing that is constant - since the union with Blue and White, New Hope has established itself as the third major political force, in the double digits. A move was needed that would produce something between the bloc that is to the left of center and the Bibi bloc, which would be able to slow down and then also be able to unify, and that is why we made this move."
Minister Sa'ar explained the strategy behind the union between the parties: "To establish after the elections a broad national unity government that does not lean on the extremes and is headed by Benny Gantz. This is the strategy, and there is only one option which is superior this option. A very extreme government led by Bibi Netanyahu. Those who read the map understand that a government in the current composition, as it exists now, cannot remain after the next elections."
To the question of whether Netanyahu had lost it, Sa'ar replied: "There is no doubt. We see where things have come and where it has seeped, and I think it would be very dangerous to entrust the State of Israel to him with the plans we know - and they mean the complete dismantling of checks and balances in our system of government. If They come and propose that the government appoint the judges, which means that the appointments of judges in the Supreme Court will become a coalition spoil. Do we want to live in such a country? I do not, and I am convinced that the majority of the Israeli public does not."
Sa'ar further noted that Gantz is the head of the list because of his "lack of ego," and added, referring to the Minister of Defense, that "I always spoke of Benny Gantz with respect, even when I was in Likud. One of the advantages when you leave Likud is that you also separate from the message page. The Benny Gantz of today is different from the Benny Gantz of 2019. He went through a very serious baptism of fire in politics, went through the poison machine that I know very well. He came out of the political grave and proved his resilience."
The Likud stated in response to the interview: "Gantz and Gideon have already formed a government with Lapid and the Muslim Brotherhood. They will do it again because they have no other way to form a government. The public must decide: a stable national government led by the Likud or a left-wing government led by Lapid, Gantz and the Muslim Brotherhood."
