"It's time to join hands and work together for a Likud victory," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told one of his major party rivals, former minister Gideon Sa'ar at a Likud campaign event Monday evening.
Netanyahu has accused Sa'ar of trying to encourage President Reuven Rivlin to entrust the formation of the next government, should the Likud win the election, to him rather than Netanyahu.
"Our strength comes from the people and it comes from you, the best team in the state of Israel. Well done, Likud team. You are not some team chosen randomly by a few PR people in an ad office – you're a great team of talented, experienced people who were democratically chosen by tens of thousands of party voters in the most democratic party in Israel," Netanyahu said at Monday's event.
The prime minister had harsh words for the center-left bloc and particularly co-leaders of the Blue and White list, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid.
"The Left is recommending a path of weakness, of concessions, of defeat – but we have taken a completely different path, one of honor and strength and national pride, a path of great spirit. What isolation? There are days when I meet with one national leader in the morning and another one in the afternoon and a third one later in the day – I'm not exaggerating, that really happens," Netanyahu said.
"I was with six Arab foreign ministers at the Warsaw conference, talking, and not hiding – everything was out in the open. When I meet with my friend President Trump, when I meet with my friend President Putin, when I met with world leaders in Beijing, Tokyo, Chad, and elsewhere, I am filled with pride that I represent you and all the other citizens of Israel."
Netanyahu went on to criticize the media and its coverage of the various corruption cases involving him: "They'll say, how dare we say the media is biased? But they know that given our immense achievements, they can't beat us. They are playing unfairly. They are crossing a red line. First of all, they are trying to take me off out of the game so the Likud will lose power. You saw that there was nothing new in the accusations against me. The house of cards is starting to collapse and when I have the chance to respond, it will come down. But that will happen only after the election, and in the meantime, I wouldn't dismiss the real danger that some of our supporters will stay home [on election day] or not vote for the Likud."
"Anyone who stays home or votes for Lapid and Gantz needs to know that he will be putting the Left in power – we can't let that happen, because only a big Likud can beat the Left," he said.
"No pressure like this has ever been put on any Israeli prime minister. Lapid and Gantz would have cracked in 15 minutes under pressure like this. With me, that won't happen! We won't uproot settlements! That is the stance of the Likud and that is my iron-clad commitment as head of the Likud. If we're tearing off masks, Lapid and Gantz supported the dangerous [2015] nuclear deal with Iran – I wholeheartedly opposed it. Gantz said the Iranians wouldn't build nuclear bombs because they were rational. … Gantz thinks that the ayatollah regime, which calls for our destruction, is a rational regime," Netanyahu said.
"Woe betide us if these two wind up being prime minister. … Will they stand up to international pressure? They can't stop Iran."
Netanyahu said Gantz and Lapid also opposed the nation-state law. "What was the first thing Gantz did? The first thing out of his mouth was that he opposes the law and he wants to change it. But I'm proud that we in the Likud … led this historic law. After 70 years, we finally declared in law that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and theirs only," he said.
"Lapid and Gantz want to lead the country? Can you imagine what would happen? A rotation of weakness. You voted for Gantz – you'd get Lapid. The Lapid-Gantz party wants to leave the [natural] gas in the seabed. It should be bringing billions into the state coffers. We will continue to encourage a free economy, lower taxes, cut down on bureaucracy, and we don't just make promises – we do things. What we've done in the past 10 years is to make Israel into a world power."
"If Lapid and Gantz manage to blur the differences between us, the Left will take power. Just like what happened in the past when generals from the Left were 'crowned.' You know what happened – the Oslo Accords. A year after Operation Protective Edge Benny Gantz took part in a memorial service for the Israeli and Palestinian victims of the operation, who included 1,000 Hamas terrorists. I would never consider attending a ceremony like that. But Benny Gantz sat there, in the front row. And that says that we are Right and Lapid and Gantz are Left – that's the truth. We are in the middle of a tough election and now is the time for everyone to join in with all their strength. There is only one way we can continue the Israeli miracle. To prevent the rise of the Left, we need a big Likud," Netanyahu said.
