Former minister Matan Kahana, who earlier this week announced that he would run with the National Unity party, spoke with Israel Hayom about Defense Minister Benny Gantz's (National Unity) meetings with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"We do not choose our enemies' leaders," Kahana said. "I am in favor of any meeting which is important to the security of the State of Israel. And if there is something that is necessary for security - it is a serious mistake not to do it. If I were Defense Minister, and I thought that we needed to meet with Abbas in order to strengthen Israel's security - I would do what was necessary."
He added, "I trust Gantz that when he decides to meet with someone, he sees security as his top priority."
When asked why he joined Gantz and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who are both in favor of a Palestinian state, Kahana said, "I never heard them say this. I will tell you what we are in favor of: There is no plan to apply sovereignty, and there is no diplomatic agreement on the horizon, and so everyone understands that we need to worry about security, and we are doing what is possible in order to reduce the conflict."
On his decision to leave the Yamina party, he said, "I think that we acted correctly. I can say that a Religious Zionist yeshiva dean told me, 'When I understood that we could not form a right-wing government, I was shouting for joy.'"
"We cannot form a government which relies only on one side. Other rabbis told me this as well, and it gave me strength. This is what we want to do in National Unity - to form a government which relies on central forces, not on the extremes."
"Matan Kahana was and remains an ideological right-wing person, who believes in the settlements. Gantz also believes in the settlements," Kahana said. "I understood that in the State of Israel's current situation, if I fulfill all my dreams, my friends from the squadron - this place will become intolerable for them. Because of this, now we need to wait with the ideological extremes and the exact dreams, and search for the common denominator and form a broad government, not one that half the nation feels excluded from. Because this country has so many challenges that we need to deal with together. This togetherness is a thousand times more important than fulfilling all of the ideologies and dreams."
