Partnership with Abbas? Bennett: 'RAAM does not define itself as a Zionist party'
After a long period of ambiguity, 'Beitad' party chairman Naftali Bennett has indicated that he would find it difficult to join a coalition with Mansour Abbas. At the same time, he criticized the Prime Minister for his policy regarding Qatar. Despite the emerging distance, the RAAM chairman has declared his readiness to 'lend a shoulder' to the opposition to replace the government.
For some time now, former Prime Minister and Chairman of the 'Beitad' party, Naftali Bennett, has not provided a definitive answer regarding the possibility of sitting in a coalition with Mansour Abbas. In a speech delivered on Tuesday in Moshav Netiv HaAsara in the Gaza envelope, he declared: 'RAAM today does not define itself as a Zionist party.'
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Regarding the core principles of his party, Bennett set three clear goals: 'I am talking about conscription for all, a constitution for all, and Zionism.'
In addition, Bennett attacked the mechanism of transferring funds to Hamas:
'A direct line connects the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem to what is happening here behind the fence: Netanyahu gave up on eliminating Hamas, brought Qatar into the Prime Minister's Office, and then gave the Qataris the keys to Gaza. We will kick Qatar out of the Prime Minister's Office, we will kick it out of Gaza, because that is the only way to deal with Hamas.'
Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister addressed the issue of international pressure exerted on Israel: 'We expect America to treat Qatar severely, while America is actually in favor of Qatar. We have no moral standing to demand that they act when we ourselves are not prepared to define Qatar as enemies.'
'We will be prepared to lend a shoulder'
RAAM Chairman Mansour Abbas has previously addressed the scenario in which the bloc of Netanyahu's opponents does not reach 61 mandates, and announced that they would be prepared to join in order to tip the scales.
In an interview on 103FM, he said: 'I hope that the Zionist opposition parties will manage to reach 61. But if they do not reach 61, then what? Will we leave Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich at the head of the government? We will be prepared to lend them a shoulder and help in establishing another government.'
