Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt at ease Wednesday on the way to yet another election rally. In the run-up to next week's election, Netanyahu has been making an effort to attend at least one of these rallies every day, and sometimes more.
On this trip to Or Akiva, joined by Israel Hayom, he said: "I feel the love from the public. People are really telling me – 'Stay, keep protecting us.'"
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During the ride, the prime minister learned that the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Hanan Meltzer, wants to summon Likud spokesman Jonatan Urich over submitting a false affidavit. Urich had stated that Netanyahu's speech on Tuesday evening about applying Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley wasn't a political event. Netanyahu, who was criticized for simply appearing in public this week, including his revelation of another secret Iranian nuclear site, said in response: "It reminds me of the Soviet Union."
In a special interview to Israel Hayom that will be published in full over the weekend, the prime minister discussed, among other topics, the ongoing skirmishes in Gaza. This week, during an election rally in Ashdod, as he was addressing the crowd, rockets were fired at southern Israel from Gaza. On the matter of a broad military campaign in Gaza, Netanyahu said, "It's no longer a matter of 'if' but 'when.'"
'Odeh has an alliance with Gantz'
On his declaration of intent to annex the Jordan Valley – and the cool response from the Americans, Netanyahu asserted that "What I said was done with the knowledge of the US administration. Their response to the announcement, whereby their position on the matter hasn't changed, shows that even if it's not exactly a green light it is more of a yellow light, and regardless isn't a red light. It's a fact that the declaration about applying sovereignty over a large area isn't arousing opposition among the Americans; case in point – they only issued a lukewarm statement that their view on the status of the territories has changed. Therefore, this entire matter of the Jordan Valley raises the question of who will lead the diplomatic steps after the election – me or Benny Gantz, who won't be able to withstand the pressures."
Netanyahu also intimated that Israel and the US could possibly clash over certain diplomatic issues, specifically the Trump administration's looming "deal of the century." The prime minister, however, believes that the Americans – namely after the ouster of US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser of John Bolton – won't soften their stance toward Iran or ease economic sanctions (as reported on Wednesday), and noted that in recent days the US has, in fact, intensified sanctions on the Islamic republic.
On Wednesday morning, before departing for more election rallies, Netanyahu attended a Knesset hearing about the so-called "camera law," where he was confronted by Joint Arab List Chairman Ayman Odeh who shoved a cellphone in the prime minister's face as if to video record him.
"That was chutzpah, he [Odeh] thinks he'll be a minister in the next government. The incident reflects his sense of confidence. Odeh is in an alliance with [Blue and White leaders] Gantz and [Yair] Lapid, and in an indirect alliance with [Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor] Lieberman."
As for the Yisrael Beytenu leader, Netanyahu said: "Lieberman will topple me. Whoever doesn't want me as prime minister – should vote for him."
