Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended his decision to appoint a controversial right-wing politician to one of the most senior positions in his cabinet, saying the move was meant to strengthen his fragile coalition government.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly offered him the choice of becoming the Minister of Defence or Minister of Immigration Absorption, Ynet News said.
– Sane and balanced voice -Centre-left opposition lawmaker Merav Michaeli said Yaalon’s departure deprived the country of a voice of moderation.
“Unfortunately extremist and unsafe elements have taken over Israel and the Likud and are threatening (society)”, he said.
Ya’alon announced on social media on Friday that he was resigning “following the recent conduct” of Netanyahu, and “in light of my lack of faith in him”.
“This morning I told the Prime Minister that I’m resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking a break from political life”, Ya’alon said at a press conference in Tel Aviv adding, “I have no intention of leaving the public and political life, and in the future will return to compete for the national leadership of Israel”.
Yaalon and Netanyahu have butted heads repeatedly over military officers talking publicly about political matters. The solider is now on trial for manslaughter. Yaalon is a former chief of the Israeli military, while Lieberman only had a brief, low-level career in the army. Moshe Arens, who served as defence minister three times, sees it as a turning point in Israeli politics and expects it to cause a “political earthquake”.
A poll aired by Israel’s Channel 10 television on Thursday found that 51 percent of Israeli Jews saw Yaalon as best suited for defence minister, while 27 percent preferred Lieberman.
Speaking on army radio, Glick said he would strive to turn “the Temple Mount from a place of (Palestinian) incitement to one of peace”. “In a democracy the military echelon is subordinate to the political echelon and not the reverse”, Netanyahu said.
Lieberman would take on the key role of defence minister under the deal being negotiated and expand Netanyahu’s current majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat parliament to 66.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to Yaalon’s resignation announcement.
As a Cabinet minister last decade, he called for the bombing of Palestinian gas stations, banks and commercial centers.
If his six-seat Yisrael Beiteinu party joins the coalition, it will become the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
A former armed forces chief, Yaalon had provided a bridge with the USA to balance Netanyahu’s policy feuds with Washington over Palestinian peace talks and Iran’s nuclear programme. He has questioned the loyalty of Israel’s Arab minority and brashly confronted Israel’s foreign critics.
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In March he returned to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for the first time since the assassination attempt. It is the third-holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
