Just days after officially launching his new political party, Amcha Yisrael (With Your People, Israel), and unveiling his Knesset slate, retired Colonel Ofer Winter has drawn clear red lines for any future coalition negotiations.
In an interview with Israel's Channel 12 News, the party chairman addressed potential political scenarios and lessons learned from Israel's previous "change government", a coalition that included right-wing, centrist, left-wing, and Arab parties under former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. When asked about the possibility of complex political partnerships, Winter was unequivocal: "I won't sit and do the deed that I didn't like when it was done to me. This story, where a small party ends up taking the prime ministership, and the second thing, taking your voters' choice and going with anti-Zionist Arab parties, I'm not doing that."
Winter, whose party list includes representatives from diverse segments of Israeli society, emphasized his commitment to his voters and to the right-wing camp. "If I forget Jerusalem, may my right hand forget, every Jew says this, and I say to myself: there are things I won't dirty my name with. Not me, and not the people who are with me," he said, referencing the biblical verse from Psalms traditionally recited about Jerusalem.
