"We will declare a state of diplomatic emergency": Bennett's attack on Netanyahu and plans for after the elections

"External political power is based first and foremost on internal strength. What Netanyahu did this week is a blood libel - I cannot remember a statement as severe as this from an Israeli leader. He knows that millions of Israelis believe in it, and he continues with all his might so that people will think there was a betrayal," said Yachad party chairman Naftali Bennett in a briefing to reporters regarding the interview of Sara Netanyahu and the response of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the matter.

Bennett emphasized that "Israel is in a state of diplomatic emergency. Three years after October 7, the IDF is winning on the battlefield, but the victory is not achieved. The diplomatic decisions are made far from Jerusalem, foreign leaders make decisions about our future, hostile countries shape our borders. In the next government we will form, we will declare a state of diplomatic emergency and set out for a series of actions to restore our status which has been in a crash for four years already."

"The next government will be required to deal with very difficult consequences of the outgoing government's actions, but it will also be able to exploit very great opportunities," he added. "The task to fix the terrible vacuum that was created in the diplomatic arena is complex to execute, but we have the tools and the right people to do it. In order to perform a diplomatic renaissance, one must start with an internal renaissance."

Regarding the relations with the USA and the low in American public opinion, Bennett said: "We have a structured action plan to restore Israel's status among US citizens. The connection with the USA is a decisive factor in our ability to win on the battlefield, and especially in the diplomatic arena. President Donald Trump is the most supportive president we could have asked for, only today he has no partner on the Israeli side for achieving diplomatic victories. In our government he will have a partner for achievements, and not a politician who puts sticks in the wheels."

The Yachad chairman also referred to the multi-front campaign:

"Against Iran we will continue the 'octopus strategy' for collecting a direct price from Iran, and we will renew the plan for weakening the regime that I initiated as Prime Minister and was stopped during the current government's period," he said about the Islamic Republic, and moved to Lebanon: "We will exploit the unique window of time that opened for establishing significant achievements in the northern arena: dismantling Hezbollah through economic strangulation and diplomatic moves that will support the government of Lebanon, alongside preserving the security zone as long as there is no demilitarization of the terror organization."

"Against Syria one must act to establish security agreements. This will assist in the efforts for distancing Turkey and recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights," he added, and moved to the Gaza Strip: "We will complete the mission in which the outgoing government failed and we will bring about the dismantling of Hamas. We will remove Qatar and Turkey who want the good of Hamas and we will bring in Egypt and other countries that want its dismantling."

On the region as a whole he said: "Before our eyes a new Middle East is being shaped. Only that instead of Israel being at the head, it is happening on our head. Israel is not at all in the diplomatic arena. We will go up to the arena with all our might and return Israel to the center of the table. We will turn from a pariah state to a state that everything passes through it, with an emphasis on significant economic projects (such as IMEC) that can bring into Israel hundreds of billions of dollars and turn us into a regional center of power with common interests for us and the world powers, that will strengthen our security status."

"We will act to expand the peace agreements in the Middle East. The situation today where most of the leaders of Arab countries do not answer the Prime Minister of Israel to the phone is not a decree of fate," he continued. "We will ensure the preservation of Israel's qualitative advantage in the Middle East. In the next government we will prevent by diplomatic action uranium enrichment on the soil of Saudi Arabia, which can bring about a dangerous nuclear arms race in our region. Netanyahu allows this, even without a commitment to normalization."

On the relations with Europe, Bennett said: "Already in these days Yair Lapid and I are acting against the great crisis with Europe in a series of conversations with a series of countries in which there are decisions that were written against Israel. Some of the countries are willing to delay the decision until the receipt of the election results in Israel and we continue to act in order to postpone or reduce the decisions against us."