Aviv Geffen: At this rate, next PM will be Yigal Amir

Israeli singer slam's Netanyahu's embrace of far-right party.

By AMY SPIRO
Aviv Gefen (photo credit: Courtesy)
Aviv Gefen
(photo credit: Courtesy)
“The next, next, next prime minister of Israel, won’t be Bibi, won’t be Gantz, won’t be Lapid,” Aviv Geffen warned Saturday evening, in a video published by Channel 13 News. “There’s a good chance that if [things continue like this] it will be Yigal Amir, who will be our next prime minister,” he said, referring to the man serving a life sentence for assassinating prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
During a performance at the Zappa Herzliya on Saturday evening, Geffen, who is known for aligning with Israel’s hard Left, said the prime minister’s embrace of parties like Otzma Yehudit could have serious consequences.
“If [Bezalel] Smotrich becomes the education minister, and Kahanists are influencing our lives,” Geffen said, then Amir could become embraced by the Israeli public. “We, the citizens, cannot remain indifferent.”  
Last week, Netanyahu encouraged Bayit Yehudi to sign a deal with Otzma Yehudit, and to give slots on its electoral list to two members from the extremist right-wing party. In return, the prime minister promised to give the combined party two ministerial positions, and to reserve spot 28 on the Likud list for Bayit Yehudi member Eliyahu Ben-Dahan.
Geffen has for years been harshly critical of the Israeli government and Netanyahu. Last year, he often used his music reality show with longtime rival Eyal Golan to share his political views, slamming a contestant who lived in a West Bank settlement and getting in an argument with the son of Likud MK Miki Zohar, who also came to audition.