According to the Kan public broadcaster, the prime minister’s family has directed senior members of the Likud party to attack Bennett and attempt to siphon away his supporters by highlighting how he would need to work with Lapid to form a government without Netanyahu.
Over the weekend, Netanyahu posted two videos attacking Bennett, and on Sunday he appeared at a conference of the religious-Zionist Besheva newspaper before spending an entire day visiting West Bank settlements.
Likud sources told Channel 12 news that the efforts had one goal: to take votes away from Yamina.
At the same time, Netanyahu, speaking at the Besheva conference, made clear that he was happy with people voting for the right-wing Religious Zionist party, which must pass the threshold for him to hold onto his hope of reaching a 61-seat majority.
“The Religious Zionist party will be with us under all circumstances. I have no problem if you decide to vote for them.” he told the conference.
Likud’s Transportation Minister Miri Regev, however, told the same conference that she believed “anyone who does not put Likud in the ballot box is a misanthrope.”
Pushed on what she meant, she clarified “I mean ungrateful.”
“If there is someone who saves your life and ensures a good life for you later on, anyone who does not vote for him is a misanthrope,” she said.
Regev later walked back the comment, saying the word “doesn’t correctly express what I intended.”
A Sunday TV poll predicted continued deadlock after the election, with the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs evenly split and the Islamist Ra’am party narrowly crossing the electoral threshold to become possible kingmaker.
The Channel 13 survey gave Netanyahu’s Likud 28 seats, followed by Yesh Atid, which received 20. Naftali Bennett’s Yamina remains steady at third with 11 seats, while Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope sees another poll predicting a single-digit result with just nine seats.
