Rogue MK Eli Avidar on Tuesday announced that he is forming a new party, Israel Chofsheet (Free Israel), and is running for the next Knesset.

Avidar entered the Knesset as part of Yisrael Beiteinu in 2019 but left the party in February because he didn’t receive a ministerial post and then resigned from the coalition in June. His main agenda while in the Knesset was to pass a law banning politicians with criminal indictments from forming a government – a law aimed at opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu. The law, which was not even supported by all members of the coalition, was not passed.

Avidar was the leader of the weekly demonstrations against Netanyahu during his years as prime minister outside the prime minister’s residence on Balfour.

In an interview with Channel 12 News on Tuesday, Avidar says that he will run until the end even if his votes end up being wasted if he fails to pass the electoral threshold. “We won’t give even if we only have half a mandate two days before the election,” he said.

Avidar also slammed other anti-Bibi parties for ignoring the fact that they will be forced to sit in a government with the Arab Joint List if they want to form a coalition.

“The public is entitled to be told the truth and I say this in the clearest way possible – we must rely on the Joint List even if we have 61 Knesset members without them. We have to because there is no such thing as a government with 61 MKs that will last for a long time. We must rely on them.”

“There’s no hope of establishing a government that doesn’t rely on the Joint List because the Chareidim chose a side and it’s not possible to move them from this position. All the stories of those parties that say that they’ll succeed in bringing in the Chareidi parties after the elections won’t help. The Chareidi parties will come only and if Netanyahu resigns, period.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)