Netanyahu pointed to several issues that he says raise doubt about the party's political alignment: "The policy they talk about, about a Palestinian state, and others with him who talk about an inquiry commission headed by the Supreme Court president, Justice Amit. Do you know what that means? He has a political opinion, you know where that goes? That's left!"
The prime minister also addressed Winter's political ties with Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman. "I saw [such] worship of Liberman there, and what hatred of Netanyahu and Likud," Netanyahu quoted from what he said was an interviewer speaking with Winter.
Netanyahu explained why, in his view, Winter joining Likud would have changed the picture. "If he had come to us, then the doubts would have disappeared, but he didn't come to us. He did exactly what we feared he would do," he said.
According to him, Winter "refused to enter with us, refused to join one of the right-wing parties, went his own way, talks about an inquiry commission headed by Yitzhak Amit, talks about how he can go with Eisenkot, talks about how one of his people talks about a Palestinian state, unfortunately."
Netanyahu sharpened his criticism and claimed the totality of these matters indicates political inconsistency: "This whole thing shows it's all opportunistic. It's not real." However, he clarified that from his perspective, this is not a personal conflict with Winter. "I'm not going to get into personality analysis right now, this isn't personal," he said.
Toward the end of his remarks, the prime minister compared the possibility that Winter would join a non-right bloc after the elections to the move Naftali Bennett made after the 2021 elections. "Bennett stood, you remember? On Channel 14, literally hours before the polls opened, holding an object he swore, signed on paper: 'I won't go with the Muslim Brothers, I won't go with the left,' and he did it after 12 hours," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister concluded his remarks with a direct warning to right-wing voters: "If you want to be sure you're voting right, that you won't fall into this trap, not to repeat the Bennett case. Don't allow Bennett case 2."
