Ben Gvir rejects unity government: "Recipe for paralysis"

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir rejected the prospect of a broad unity government in remarks to Srugim reporter Yossi Ben Attar during his faction's Knesset meeting, calling such a coalition a "paralysis government."

Asked by Srugim whether he would be willing to give up his ministerial post in exchange for a broad unity government, Ben Gvir replied: "I think a unity government is a paralysis government. The issue here isn't my position or not my position, the issue here is a government that can be paralyzed. We don't want a government like that: it can't choose an attorney general, can't appoint Supreme Court judges, won't carry out emigration from Gaza. A unity government is a paralysis government."

Ben Gvir responding to Srugim's question (Yossi Ben Attar, Srugim)

Ben Gvir then turned to his right-wing allies: "I'm telling you, my friends in the right-wing camp: let's speak the truth, let's talk about election manipulation, about election fraud. Let's demand new elections and do everything so that a government with terror supporters won't be established here."

Asked by Ben Attar whether he was disappointed in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who spent the two days before the election campaigning at Otzma Yehudit's expense to benefit Likud, he said: "I think he made a mistake, and if we were bigger it would have helped more."

But heemphasized he prefers to look forward: "At the end of the day, I'm facing forward. I think we reached a good result, we became the second-largest party on the right after Likud. I think this is a very important result that signals that the people of Israel want Otzma Yehudit."