Ze'ev Elkin used to be a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but that all changed last week, when he announced he would be leaving Likud and join Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party.
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"I was desperate," the veteran lawmaker told Israel Hayom. "I couldn't bring myself to tell people to vote for Netanyahu, claiming that he will make the right decisions for the country.
"I saw no hope. Netanyahu rejected my proposal to postpone the elections and decided to go ahead and hold the fourth one. After Sa'ar resigned from Likud, he asked me to join him. The decision was not easy, but I had no other way of getting out of that vicious circle.
"I learned about Gideon Sa'ar's resignation from the Likud on TV," Elkin said, adding that in the past, he shared his frustrations about Netanyahu's decision-making process with Sa'ar, but the two never discussed forming a new party together.
Elkin accused the prime minister of deliberately forcing the country to hold the third and fourth elections in hopes of escaping corruption charges.
"He thinks he will be better off if he is an acting prime minister during his trial, and if not, then at least the opposition leader. Netanyahu is dragging Likud into the grave. He will not leave the party even if he loses the election."
Elkin acknowledged that Netanyahu has done many great things for Israel, but warns "he has come to a dangerous point where he thinks that what is good for him is also good for the country."
Elkin added that Blue and White are also to blame for dragging the country into its fourth elections in two years. He condemned Prime minister-designate Benny Gantz for asking Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn to resign.
"As soon as Nissenkorn leaves the Justice Ministry, the tragedy of the fourth elections will become a parody. Nissenkorn's insistence on remaining in office prevented the compromise between the Likud and Blue and White and could have prevented the fourth elections.
"The sad part is that this parody comes at our expense. It cost three billion shekels and three months."
As for New Hope's chance to form a new government, Elkin said that if and when the mandate is imposed on Sa'ar, he will know how to form a government. "I promise you, as soon as Netanyahu is unable to establish [a government], we will be the ones who will do it. Gideon and I are both experienced politicians, and all the knowledge I gained through my work in the Knesset, I will invest in this."
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