Miri Regev to ex-soccer star: Apologize to Likud or don't be Israel coach
Miri Regev and Eyal Berkovic got in a screaming match on N12 on Friday night after Berkovic called the Likud Party a "criminal organization" the previous week.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIMiri Regev(photo credit: REUTERS)
Transportation Minister Miri Regev sent shock waves throughout Israel on Friday night when she was interviewed on the weekly program “Ofira and Berkovic” on N12, where she told Eyal Berkovic, a cohost of the show and former Israeli soccer star, that if he does not apologize to the Likud Party, he will never be the coach for the Israeli national soccer team.The apology, which Regev finds is necessary, is for a comment he made the previous week in which he said that members of Knesset from the Likud Party, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the party which Regev is a member of, have been behaving like a “criminal organization” in their handling of the coronavirus crisis.He claimed that they did not respect the professional judgment of the Health Ministry, in particular that of coronavirus commissioner Prof. Ronni Gamzu.Berkovic had made the comment about the Likud during an interview the previous week with Coalition Chairman Miki Zohar, who announced in response that he would no longer appear on the show.“As long as you do not apologize to the Likudniks, you will never be the coach of the Israeli national team, I’m telling you,” Regev said.“There’s no chance,” Berkovic, known in Israel as “Berko” for short, said.Regev continued, explaining that she is waiting “for you to apologize to a million and a half Likudniks who you called members of a criminal organization, just like Dudu Topaz (Israeli television personality) called us riffraff and like others called us mezuzah-kissers.”Berkovic responded, “I was only referring to you and your whole crew, a bunch of suck-ups.”“I wish you would reach a quarter of our morals,” Regev quipped, screaming. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”Regev announced at the top of her voice that she and other Likud supporters are proud that the person running the country is Netanyahu, to which Berkovic responded, “You are proud, I’m not proud anymore.”“You flip over like a steak,” Regev responded, claiming that Berkovic’s opinion changes regularly. “One day, it’s [Moshe] Kahlon, one day it’s [Alternate Prime Minister Benny] Gantz. You made Gantz into a messiah, but where is your messiah? Where are you, you steak? You always flip over, now it’s [MK Naftali] Bennett, come on, stop it.”The argument, ending at exceedingly high volumes, was eventually broken up by Berkovic’s cohost, Ofira Asayag, who told the two of them that they had expressed their sentiments.Maariv, the sister publication of The Jerusalem Post, contributed to this report.
