Netanyahu to Ofer Winter: Unite with existing parties, or you’ll doom the right

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticizes Ofer Winter and other right-wing figures who have recently founded new political parties, warning that the fragmentation in his own political bloc could doom it to failure.

Winter, a controversial, hawkish former general, launched his “People of Israel” party today. Polls show the party receiving just enough votes to enter the Knesset, but suggest that those votes could come at the expense of the far-right, pro-Netanyahu Religious Zionism party, which would not pass the threshold of votes needed to make it in.

“Today we have three mushrooms after rain,” Netanyahu says at an event in the central West Bank, according to Hebrew reports, naming Winter as well as two far-right politicians, Moshe Feiglin and Avi Maoz. “Whoever doesn’t pass the electoral threshold wastes their votes. Whoever does pass will take down an existing party.”

He continues, “So there’s only one message for all of the new right-wing parties: Leave, or unite with the existing parties. If you care about the future of the state of Israel, that’s what you need to do.”

The remarks come after Netanyahu made similar comments yesterday, when he posted on social media, “Don’t waste your vote on small parties that may not pass the threshold and bring the left to power.”