(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday evening held a press conference in Brazil, turned his attention to a number of relevant matters, beginning with the “historic visit to Brazil”.

Following are highlights of his close to thirty-minute address including questions and answers:

PM Netanyahu declared that he did not intend to resign even if he was summoned for a hearing. He also addressed the new party of Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked.

As for his investigations and the possibility that he will be summoned to a hearing, Netanyahu said that “I do not intend to resign, and I believe that nothing will come of it … Second, Israel is a state of law and by law the prime minister does not have to resign in the process of hearing. It makes no sense to open a process of hearing before the elections if you cannot complete it until the election.

“If a prime minister is deposed and then following a hearing the decision is made to close the case, it is absurd,” said the prime minister. “This is blatant interference in democracy.” “It’s not a legal matter, it’s a matter of common sense, of logic, I cannot influence it.”

As for Bennett and Shaked’s new right-wing party, the prime minister said that “there are two dangers in this new party – the one that will crush the right-wing bloc into splinter parties that will not pass the threshold, and the second is that no one knows what they will do with the mandates they will receive They can easily move mandates from right to left – they were already in a fraternal alliance with the left, with Yair Lapid.

“Therefore, whoever wants a right-wing and sure government, a sure vote, will vote for a Likud headed by Netanyahu, and I will form the next government based on the existing coalition, and this will ensure that we can bring to the State of Israel our tremendous achievements.

“I am aware that this new party is endangering a lot of parties, several parties that will not pass the threshold, I will do everything in my power to prevent this, and I will act responsibly so that the right-wing will preserve its power and not act irresponsibly and act to endangering the right.”

Netanyahu added that “I am surprised that the first thing they are doing is attacking me, furiously, and I ask myself why, had it not been for the example that Lapid did with the brothers or sisters, the question is whether it will not happen again. I am interested in taking all the right-wing parties, and I will do so in the future if the citizens of Israel give me the mandate. ”

Netanyahu was asked about Minister Ayelet Shaked’s statement that the next term will be his last and said, “Since I was elected, they explained to me that this is my last term, and for some reason, neither the politicians nor the commentators determine.

As for former chief of staff Benny Gantz, Netanyahu said: “The first question is what does he want? They came to me with complaints – why do you say that Benny Gantz is on the left? In my experience, anyone who says he does not know whether he is right or left is left. Like Lapid. Everyone knows what the center of gravity of this party (Gantz’s) is, so be frank. But anyone who says that he is ‘neither this or that’ is usually left.”

During the press conference, Netanyahu referred for the first time to his call in 2008 to then-prime minister Ehud Olmert to quit because of suspicions against him, saying that his remarks referred to the state plan or the diplomatic steps Olmert intended to do. “I did not say he must step down. I said that he cannot bring a political plan on the eve of the elections, and I am in the same opinion. I do not intend to bring a political plan on the eve of elections,” Netanyahu said.

“I think that everyone who sits with me in the cabinet meetings and in the most sensitive security discussions – and the heads of the defense establishment and others – attest to this, that I make decisions based on what I think is correct for the security of the State of Israel, and I am very careful about it. I consider matters because the responsibility on my shoulders is enormous.”

The new right-wing party said in response: “We will not be dragged into the prime minister’s attacks against us, and we are returning the mandates that left the Likud to go to the left bloc of Gantz, Lapid and Orli Levi and we offer that the prime minister join us in our mission”.

Yesh Atid party chairman MK Yair Lapid: Netanyahu’s words tonight that he can serve under indictment is a moral bankruptcy and proof that he lost the brakes and the only thing that concerns him is to be saved from his criminal files and not the interests of the state.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)