The chairman of the 'Amach Yisrael' party, Ofer Winter, met privately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's Office.
According to a report this evening (Sunday) by Amit Segal on Channel 12, during the meeting, a proposal was made to Winter to join the Likud list in the upcoming elections as part of a reserve, alongside additional reserved places for other candidates - but he chose to respond negatively.
He then went independent and launched his own party.
According to the report, the willingness to hold the meeting surprised those around Winter, after he had stated to his associates in recent months that he had no intention of meeting or running in the election campaign alongside incumbent politicians.
His immediate refusal to accept the armor deal raised concerns among the prime minister's entourage regarding his willingness to integrate into an alternative coalition.
Two days after launching his party, Winter chose to clarify his position and declared that he would only recommend Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government after the elections.
However, in his words he emphasized: "We do not work for anyone, only for the people of Israel. We will not dance to anyone's tune.".
Winter's clarification came after pressure from Netanyahu's associates and his son Yair, who tweeted that "Winter will recommend Lieberman for prime minister.".
Likud sources commented on this and noted: "We are not calm, Winter left open ends and Bennett also said similar things at the time.".
