Environment Minister Gilad Erdan says that the government to be formed after the early elections will be a better one for nationalists than the present one. Likud is expected to grow from 27 to 30 or more seats, but the government will probably include more leftist elements such as Yair Lapid´s party and Kadima.

In an interview with Besheva magazine, Erdan was asked if the nationalists should prepare for harsh decrees because the Prime Minister will seek to please leftist coalition partners after the elections. "On the contrary," he said. "I think that the larger and stronger the Likud is, and the less dependent it is on its coalition partners, it will be able to stand firmly regarding its ideological positions, and not – as we saw in the past, regrettably – do things that do not reflect the Likud ideology."

"The stronger Likud is, the more we will be able to explain our right to this land in a strong and clear fashion, and if we head toward a diplomatic process, it should be based first and foremost on the recognition of right of the Jewish nation to a state of its own," he explained.

Erdan commented bitterly on the verbal attack he endured from former Mossad chief Meir Dagan in New York. "Dagan, Diskin and all of Olmert´s gang are playing into the hands of the international media that did not like Israel too much to begin with. They are besmirching the elected government of Israel and playing into the hands of Israel´s enemies. They are damaging the global campaign that the prime minister is leading."

Erdan criticized Dagan and Diskin last week as well, noting that “if they did not believe in the head of the system, they could have resigned in real time.” (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 05/03/12)