After saying he "did him a favor" - Almog Cohen responds to Itamar Ben Gvir: "No one did me any favors"
Ahead of the Likud primaries, Member of Knesset Almog Cohen, in a conversation with Erel Segal and Eyal Berkovic, rejects Itamar Ben Gvir's claim that he did him a favor and recalls the night of the budget: "The government could have fallen, I was the 61st vote."
Deputy Minister Almog Cohen will compete tomorrow in the Likud primaries, despite being elected to the current Knesset on the list of Itamar Ben Gvir, Otzma Yehudit. This morning, Sunday, Ben Gvir attacked Cohen on 103FM radio for acting disloyally toward him, saying: "Almog Cohen is in Likud. I did him a favor by not dismissing him. He is someone who took a mandate from one party to another." Later, he added: "Almog is a good Knesset member and I wish him success." Now, Almog Cohen responds to these remarks in a conversation with Erel Segal and Eyal Berkovic.
Regarding the disagreements with Minister Ben Gvir, Cohen said:
"He is a good man, a loyal public servant, but I don't think he did me a favor. I did him a favor; on the night of the budget, the government could have fallen, I was the 61st vote. No one did me any favors."
Cohen addressed his efforts to get elected in the upcoming Likud primaries: "I am in a three-day campaign; there are people who have been working on this for four years. But I received a mission, I am a fighter, and I am biting into it."
Berkovic quipped: "What is your ticket besides screaming and yelling?"
Cohen replied: "A very intelligent question. So, the anti-protection racket law that put Abu Latif in prison, the terrorist deportation law; don't tell me that protection rackets still exist." Berkovic interrupted: "Of course I will tell you. 55% of contractors in the south pay protection money."
Cohen explained: "This is a phenomenon that cannot be ended in one day, I hope you agree with me. There is the heroism grant for the residents of the Gaza envelope, the heroes who fought on October 7, and last but not least, the airport that will be in Beit Kama and will bring 15,000 jobs."
Now he is approaching a difficult contest in another party. "I do not agree with this issue of schemes and juntas. There are pressure groups there like in any big party, but the people I meet are ideological guys, lovers of the land, the salt of the earth, the best of the best," Cohen said about the Likudniks. "I prefer a person who acts for the people of Israel and not one who screams in courts and in the media and does nothing; that is how I live. Public officials should serve us and not us them; I call them public servants."
