Goldknopf Confirms: “Netanyahu Doesn’t Speak to Me; I’m Waiting for Him”

United Torah Judaism chairman MK Yitzchak Goldknopf broke a long public silence on Wednesday night in an interview with Yankele Friedman on Kol Chai, warning that without a draft law passed before the next elections, no chareidi-backed coalition will be formed.

Goldknopf said the failure to pass the draft law before the government was established created the current crisis. “If we do not succeed in passing a draft law before the elections – no government will be formed with chareidi support until such a law passes. In the meantime – we will not give the government any backing, including on the state budget, if the law doesn’t pass.”

Goldknopf also pushed back on reports that UTJ had already received a draft proposal for the new law. “We didn’t receive any draft. Should I go search online for what others published? That is not the way and that is not the city. There isn’t a day that I or my chief of staff, Bechik, don’t ask the coalition chairman, who is a loyal man, if he already has a draft of the law, and he still doesn’t.”

When asked about Religious Zionism’s objections to the law, he dismissed them sharply. “You mean the party that doesn’t pass the electoral threshold in the polls? Come on. Otzma Yehudit, which does support the law, passes easily and big.”

Reflecting on his short tenure as housing minister, Goldknopf defended his achievements. He said that during his time in office, he advanced two hundred thousand new apartments, including 80,000 designated for the chareidi community. He noted that a roof agreement recently signed in Lod was the product of repeated work visits during his term and said that if UTJ reenters the government, the party expects to return to the Housing Ministry. In the next government, he said, UTJ will only take a position that serves as a key to advancing the draft law.

Goldknopf also confirmed reports that he has not spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an extended period. “I haven’t spoken with him for a long time, there is no conflict, but I am waiting for the moment he calls me to the party leaders’ meeting. We used to discuss things there, and suddenly everything stopped. Is he with us? That depends on him, how much he wants it.”

Addressing the new practice of docking ministers who arrive late to cabinet meetings, he noted, “In the past, we were many ministers and it wasn’t noticeable if someone was late. Today we’ve left the government and there aren’t many ministers anymore, so every delay stands out.”

{Matzav.com}