Party leaders take aim at Prime Minister Netanyahu
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu runs a video and spin-making factory instead of taking care of the country."
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: JANUARY 13, 2019 05:41Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a weekly cabinet meeting, December 16th, 2018(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Labor leader Avi Gabbay called on center-left party leaders, Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Benny Gantz (Israel Resilience Party), on Saturday to publicly say they will not join a future coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, should he win the upcoming elections.Speaking in Netanya, Gabbay said that unless Lapid and Gantz do so, they will “take the votes of people who want change and hand them over to Netanyahu.”Telem leader and former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon also spoke on Saturday, saying that his goal is to “create a coalition and replace the current administration” during a cultural event held at the National Theater in Tel Aviv.“For that purpose I am checking my ego outside the door,” he said. Saying that he feels strongly about the need to “put Israel back on the right track,” Ya’alon said he will do “everything for the benefit of the country.”Ya’alon also said that “the fact there is more Palestinian terror is not a justification for even a single Jewish act of terror... Jewish terror undermines our moral high ground.”Former defense minister Avigdor Liberman responded on Facebook to the “violent altercation” between IDF forces and Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border on Friday.“The Israeli government begs Egypt to open the Rafiah border crossing, and promises to pay another $15 million, hoping that would help resolve the current situation,” Liberman wrote. “I call upon the Israeli government to cease funding the terror aimed at us. I demand we condition any assistance to Gaza on the return of our soldiers and citizens held in Hamas captivity.”Yesh Atid MK Karin Elharar also criticized Netanyahu for his speech last week, in which he demanded an opportunity to confront the state’s witnesses who have accused him of corruption.“The prime minister is running a video and spin-making factory instead of taking care of the country,” she said.Saying that Netanyahu employs a strategy of “drips,” Elharar said he “de-legitimizes every possible institution that may stand in his way... he thinks he’s above everybody.” She was speaking in Rishon Lezion during a cultural event.
She also said that Netanyahu already accepted funds to pay for his legal defense from those close to him and that “the people of Israel have the right to know who is behind these funds.”
