The reason she was leaving, she says, is because the talks did not include a commitment to the social causes she has fought for in her seven years as an MK.
By LAHAV HARKOVUpdated: MAY 20, 2016 02:12Israeli Knesset Member Orly Levy(photo credit: KNESSET)
MK Orly Levy-Abecassis quit Yisrael Beytenu on Thursday as her party negotiated its entry to the coalition.Levy-Abecassis, second on the party’s list and not tapped to become a minister, said she was leaving because the talks did not include a commitment to the social causes she has fought for as an MK. However, she is not resigning from the Knesset, and plans to be her own faction in the opposition.In such a situation, she cannot run in another party in the next election.“I believed that recent days gave us a true opportunity to significantly promote [social issues] but, unfortunately, the opportunity... was not taken advantage of,” Levy-Abecassis said. “The topics and issues for which I was elected in the first place to public service were completely abandoned and left aside again.”As such, she said she is leaving the party though she knows it could be an obstacle to her continued parliamentary work.“I am not afraid. I plan to continue working as an MK according to my conscience and in a way that reflects the good of the weaker sectors,” she stated.Levy-Abecasis did not directly notify Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman of her decision; the party released a statement saying it was surprised by her resignation, and that social issues - like Levy-Abecassis’s 90 percent mortgage bill - were, in fact, part of the negotiations.Zionist Union lawmakers called on Levy-Abecassis to join their ranks. “You are smart, skilled, moral and hard working, and you will do good everywhere. Good luck,” MK Shelly Yacimovich wrote on Twitter to the former model.