‘Preparing for day after Netanyahu,’ Yamina claims it’s heading to opposition

The national religious Yamina party announces that it is heading to the opposition after its talks with the Likud party aimed at joining the government fell apart.

“In light of the composition of the [incoming] government and its emerging policies that appear to make it a left-wing government headed by Netanyahu, and in light of the prime minister’s blatant disrespect for Yamina and its voters, the Yamina party has decided to serve the public during the upcoming term from the opposition where it will fight on behalf of the nationalist camp,” Yamina says in a statement.

“The decision was made after repeated attempts to reach agreements in the coalition negotiations with Likud and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who chose to dismantle the right-wing bloc and his partnership with Yamina.”

“Yamina will prepare for the day after Netanyahu, which will come in a year and a half, and produce from the opposition a real, right-wing alternative. A right wing that is not ready to sell the justice system to the left for personal survival, a right wing that is unwilling to cede to Hamas and [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] Abu Mazen, a right wing that is truly committed to the development and legalization of settlement, a right wing that does not sell Judaism to special interests or the Israeli economy to Amir Peretz and the Histadrut labor union, a right wing that does throw in the towel in the struggle to remove infiltrators and rehabilitate neighborhoods [which have experienced an influx of them].”

The party says it will fight the government from the opposition, but do so responsibly. This means voting in favor of West Bank annexation, while opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state.