MK (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Orbach spoke with Israel Radio on Thursday afternoon 11 Adar 5773. Orbach denied media reports of tensions in the party between the Ichud Leumi faction and party leader Naftali Bennett. He explained the party is unified and everyone recognizes the leadership position of Bennett.

Regarding the agreement with Yesh Atid, Orbach believes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu misread the pact. “That agreement is not against him, but to assist us” explains Orbach, who stresses the Likud must decide what the character of the next government will look like. He insists the party is uninterested in speaking about any cabinet posts until there is substantial discussion surrounding matters of hashkafa.

“Likud has a habit of blaming others” Orbach feels, stressing it is clear “voters have opted for something different and we must cling to our platform. To date, there has not been any significant discussion on matters of substance”.

Orbach adds “We respect the prime minister, and we believe he belongs in the leadership position and we said this throughout the campaign. He wants to bring the chareidim in first and then us. Quite honestly, this presents a problem. I admit it. We do want to be in the coalition but that does not mean we have to make it easy. The chareidim have taken over religion and state. Livni has taken over talks with the PA (Palestinian Authority). What does that leave us? We have ideology and must have the ability to remain true to these ideals. Therefore, we are looking at ourselves, our voters and our hashkafa.”

“I simply don’t get it. The chareidim are a natural partner but so are we. That is not to say we are not going to remain true to our ideology. To date there has been some probing and discussion but we are still waiting to enter into serious coalition negotiations addressing the issues like the future of the yishuvim and the like, the reason voters selected us.”

ISRAEL RADIO:

Do you think the coalition will be with you, the chareidim, Yesh Atid?

ORBACH:

At the end of the day I do believe the coalition will be a broad one. I cannot say if Lapid and/or the chareidim will join. I receive a fine salary to be a MK, not a political commentator.

ISRAEL RADIO:

Is the Kandel plan acceptable to the party?

ORBACH:

There are many plans and each person has a plan with his name attached. I sincerely believe if we sit and talk, in-depth, addressing the issues, we can reach an agreement which will also be acceptable to the chareidim.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)