Courting Israel’s right-wing voters, Shaked says only Yamina can stop a Palestinian state

Courting right-wing voters on the campaign trail, former Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked yesterday claimed that only a strong showing for the Yamina party will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank.

As reported by right-wing news outlet Arutz Sheva, Shaked was speaking to Ben Caspit and Yinon Magal on Radio 103FM, addressing various aspects of the election campaign.

The polls continue to show that Likud and Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) will both secure a similar number of seats, with neither side able to form a governing coalition of natural allies.

“If [Yamina] doesn’t get a strong representation, there will be no sovereignty [i.e. annexation of West Bank territory] and a Palestinian state might be established,” Shaked claimed.

“We are the only party that opposes a Palestinian state,” she added.

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Shaked told the radio station that the right could in fact secure a Knesset majority of 61 seats.

“Without us there [cannot be a] right-wing government. Before we got involved, Netanyahu was considering the ‘two-state solution’, freezing settlement construction, and releasing terrorists.”

“We came in, changed the entire perspective, and started discussing sovereignty [annexation]”.

In fact, neither Likud nor Blue and White support the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. Both lists include supporters of the status quo, annexation, or, at best, the creation of an autonomous entity in a truncated portion of the West Bank.

With the Likud seeking as many votes as possible, however, the right-wing Yamina list needs to assert its nationalist credentials.

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