In recordings from a home meeting that came to Amiel Yirchi's possession and were published this evening (Monday) on Channel i24, Yonatan Shalev, Naftali Bennett's young 23-year-old candidate, can be heard admitting in his own voice that the connection to Lapid led to a drop in mandates in the polls, and accusing Eisenkot of harming state security.
""We received an offer from Eisenkot... We received an offer from Lieberman, from Yair Lapid, and we also spoke with Yair Golan, with all the parties, but... when Bennett is not at the helm, this is the real danger.".
""The alliance with Lapid has lowered us in the polls. Anyone who doesn't join us endangers the security of the state, endangers the State of Israel, period. Every day that Eisenkot delays with this, the state is harmed, because when Bennett is weak, the bloc is weakened... The candidate for prime minister is Bennett and not Yair, and that's perfectly fine," he added.
Shalev added that Yoaz Hendel "and all the small parties... we need to take them down... anyone who is willing to endanger the country in the upcoming elections has no place in politics, they will allow Netanyahu to form a government.".
Regarding the Palestinian Authority and his attitude towards it, Shalev said that his vision is to establish a Palestinian body with which agreements can be reached. "Right now, the Authority is very weak and therefore it is not a partner, until a body is established that can be worked with, certainly when there is a war on four fronts, and our role as a state is to see how we support the establishment of a body that will take care of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and later become a partner, to help establish a body that can be worked with. The vision is to have a body with which agreements can be reached, right now that is not possible.".
Very soon, he promises, additional names in Bennett's party will be revealed: "In the coming days, names of new elected officials will be revealed, I say this from the knowledge of bereaved families.".
Towards the end of the meeting, Yonatan Shalev declared that Bennett was ready to do anything that would lead to victory at the ballot box: "He will do any unification that will lead to victory. He will do anything for unification, including moving left, right, down, up. Right now, the unification that will lead to victory is a government led by Bennett.".
On behalf of Yonatan Shalev, the following was reported in response:
""The statements in question are an unsuccessful formulation of a clear issue - the future of the country depends on victory in the elections, and victory in the elections depends on unity in the Gush Hatikva bloc. Everyone who heard the words understood exactly what I said.
""Gadi Eisenkot dedicated his life to Israel's security and we all cherish that. We will not allow anyone to cause conflict between us.".
