Organizers of the nationalist rally in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square estimated that 100,000 people are attending it.
Economics Minister Naftali Bennett played the guitar and sang “Jerusalem of Gold” to the vast crowd, urging it to sing along, in protest of the decision by the Elections Committee not to allow artists to perform at the rally.
He told the crowd that the elections can be about security, and also about the price of living, because the Left does not have a monopoly on social issues. “There is no need to divide the Land of Israel to lower the price of cheese,” he said.
Bennett said that the Left would like to hand over the Mount of Olives, and Beit El and the Cave of Machpela in Hevron to the Arabs, because they do not want Israel to be Jewish.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke first, and thanked the the rally goers. He said that he could feel “a great spirit, the spirit of the nation of Israel, the Jewish spirit, the Zionist spirit, our spirit.”
He asked the public at the square not to engage in incitement, provocations or violence, and not to be drawn into provocations.
He also addressed some words to Moshe Kahlon, who heads Kulanu, and asked him to join the next government as finance minister, “so that we can work together to lower the prices of housing and the cost of living, as we succeeded together in lowering the cost of cellular phones in the previous government.”
MK Eli Yishai, who heads Yachad, said that the upcoming election is a crucial one. He said that the huge crowd at the rally indicates that the nationalists have already won.
“Together with you, we will safeguard the Land of Israel,” Yishai called out to Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, Bennett and Yishai all condemned the speech by leftist artist Yair Garbuz last week, in which he derided “those who kiss amulets.” Bennett said that since that speech, he makes sure to kiss every mezuzah he sees.
