ByLAHAV HARKOV

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again targeted Yamina leader Naftali Bennett in the final days of an election campaign, a pattern that has repeated itself in every election in the past decade.

Netanyahu challenged Bennett in a campaign video released on Thursday to commit to not joining a government with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid or with a rotation for the premiership.

“For three days you’ve been avoiding it because you want to be prime minister with eight or ten seats,” Netanyahu said. “With me, that will not be. There won’t be a rotation for prime minister. Our economy doesn’t permit this.”

Netanyahu posited that, because Bennett wants to be prime minister, he is willing to join a government with Yesh Atid, New Hope, Yisrael Beytenu, Labor and Meretz.

“The State of Israel must not go in this direction,” he warned. “What our economy needs, what our country needs at this time is a stable, strong right-wing government that will jumpstart our economy higher and higher heights… Vote [Likud] and you'll get Bennett as a respectable minister in our government. Vote Bennett, and you'll get him as a minister in Lapid's government.”

Netanyahu relayed similar messages in radio interviews and campaign events throughout the week. Yamina polled at 10-11 seats in surveys released on Sunday and Tuesday, but a poll conducted for the N12 news site and released on Thursday put the party at nine seats.

Likud has targeted Bennett in the final stretch of every election in the past decade, since Bennett first ran for office, in a practice that has become referred to by the punditry as “drinking votes with a straw.” The parties Bennett has led have consistently done worse in the final election result than in the polls, to the extent that his former New Right party did not pass the electoral threshold in early 2019.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who has been taking a van around the country and broadcasting live videos on social media, used one of the videos to display a letter committing to not joining a government led by Lapid, and show herself taking a photo of it and sending it to Bennett on the Whatsapp messaging app.

Bennett responded to her with a Whatsapp message of his own: "Miri – I hoped that you were announcing your resignation because of the failure of the [COVID-19] mutations [entering Israel through] Ben-Gurion Airport.

"P.S. Tell me, is there a moment in which you actually care about people and aren't involved in politcs. For God’s sake, people are collapsing here," Bennett added.

Regev responded: "Bennett, stop avoiding. I understand it's hard for you to divorce yourself from Lapid, but the answer is simple: Are you signing or not?

"Will you continue to be Lapid's vote contractor and field agent, or do you commit to support and sit in a right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu," she wrote.

Bennett and Regev's spokesmen sent the media screen shots of their text conversation.

Earlier this week, Bennett quipped in response to Netanyahu’s demand that “hearing the word ‘commitment’ from Netanyahu is like…pressing ‘I’m not the driver’ on Waze.”

Also Thursday, Likud threatened to sue the Kan public broadcaster for not airing an interview Netanyahu did with their Arabic station.

Kan also refused to interview Netanyahu on their Russian-language radio station, Likud said. The campaign accused the public broadcaster of using their refusal to try to convince Netanyahu to go on their 8 p.m. televised news broadcast.

"This is outrageous and political behavior by the management of the broadcasting corporation funded by Israeli citizens," the campaign said.