The 'Amcha Yisrael' party, led by Ofer Winter, failed to cross the electoral threshold, and now the reckoning has begun. In a candid interview on Radio 103FM with Avishai Grinzaig and Barak Seri, Laly Derai, number 3 on the list, laid out the reasons she believes prevented the right's great hope from entering the Knesset, but promised that as long as the old discourse continues, the party will continue to exist.
"In hindsight, I think we should have joined with another party, not an existing party, perhaps with the reservists' party," she admitted openly.
When confronted with statements attributed to party chairman Ofer Winter about making a mistake by running separately for the Knesset, Derai clarified: "He didn't say he made a mistake running for the Knesset. There were tactical errors that I'm also a partner to. We wanted to bring something new, something that breaks through the blocs, but because of the campaign they ran against us, we became entrenched in talking only about blocs."
"We became entrenched in the old political discourse"
She explained that the attempt to fend off political attacks damaged the party's values-based message: "To prove we don't have a leftist sister, we kept saying we would recommend Netanyahu and didn't talk enough about the values we want to bring. We continued to entrench ourselves in the old political discourse when we wanted to bring a new discourse." Regarding the possibility of a merger with Moti Leitner's Haredi Public party, Deri confirmed that "there were contacts with him, but he didn't bring good news."
The sobering moments, she said, came even before the exit polls opened: "It happened at seven in the evening on election day. I met a sitting MK, and he took me out of the euphoria of meeting with the people. We received such an embrace and such support, and then at seven he told me that there are aspirations and there is reality, and it doesn't work."
Despite the result, Derai does not rule out another run in the future: "This message must exist. The people voted again for the same people and got exactly the same mess. The story of the blocs must stop. If there will be a real unity government, no one will be happier than me, but if they prefer their political interests and their stupid personal preferences over the people of Israel, yes."
