On Saturday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud rejected Jewish Home’s offer for a “unified technical bloc” and Chairman Naftali Bennett is biting back. 

The offer consisted of a bloc of at least 35 seats shared by Likud and Jewish Home, which would then turn to President Reuven Rivlin and recommend Netanyahu for prime minister. 

Likud was unimpressed with Bennett’s offer, however, saying that the only way to ensure Netanyahu remains Prime Minister after the election is for Likud to be a big party with enough seats to ensure a stable government.

Responding to Netanyahu’s refusal to the offer on the “Orly and Guy” Channel Ten television program, Bennett reiterated his belief that Netanyahu will turn to Zionist Union co-chairs Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni to form a government. 

“Netanyahu’s refusal reinforces my concern that after the election he will call Herzog and Livni and build a government with them. In the previous election he did this and skipped over the Right, and he will do it this time too,” Bennett charged. 

The Economy Minister also responded to questions about his complex relationship with Netanyahu over the years – reportedly, Sara Netanyahu caused the two men’s falling out, prompting Bennett to resign from the Likud in 2012. 

“It’s not always comfortable with me. I’m a nudnik. Also politically, I’m a nudnik. During the war I was pushy about the tunnels. I stand by my principles,” he explained. “But at the end of the day, we have a country to run.”

Bennett also spoke about the Eli Ohana affair and the storm caused by giving the secular former soccer star a reserved seat on Jewish Home’s Knesset list. 

According to Bennett, he made mistakes in the way things were handled, but not in his decision for Ohana to join the party. 

“I was not mistaken in wanting him to join, but I was wrong in the way things were done. It was predatory and perceived as such.”