Without Bennett as defense minister, “this government is called right-wing but in practice fulfills left-wing policy,” Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked stated.
By Jack Gold, World Israel News
The government is no longer right-wing and must turn right if it wishes to continue to exist, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, a member of Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party, said on Sunday.
Minister of Education Naftali Bennett presented Netanyahu with an ultimatum Wednesday evening: Give us the defense portfolio or my Jewish Home party will quit the coalition.
Earlier that day, Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman announced his resignation, leaving the Likud-led government with a narrow coalition of 61 Members of Knesset.
Noting the government’s achievements for the right, such as the Regulation Law and Israeli sovereignty over Ariel University in Samaria, Shaked said there is still much to be done, and it “is already clear that it will not be done under this government,” Israel National News reported.
The “only justification” for the existence of the government until November 2019, when elections are slated by law, is “that Bennett will revolutionize security, restore Israel’s deterrence that was lost under Liberman over the past two years and help to break free of the deep crisis in trust in security,” she declared.
“Without this, this government is called right-wing but in practice fulfills left-wing policy,” Shaked added, saying that otherwise the government should be dissolved and Israel should go to early elections.
“The public is fed up with voting right and getting left, and the continuation of a faltering left-wing government will endanger right-wing rule,” she stated.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been holding consultations with coalition parties in an effort to stabilize the government and prevent early elections.
“In recent days I have spoken with all of the coalition heads. This evening I will meet with Finance Minister Kahlon in an attempt to prevent the government from being toppled. At this sensitive time, vis-à-vis security, it would be both unnecessary and incorrect to go to elections,” the prime minister told the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning.