Finance Minister Israel Katz told activists for the ruling Likud on Sunday that in an attempt to prevent the party’s fall from power, he had suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step aside temporarily to enable the formation of a right-wing government.
The development confirmed several reports in Hebrew media over the past two months that were vehemently denied by Katz at the time.
Katz wrote that he recently proposed to Netanyahu that he hold fresh primaries for the party leadership, with the winner replacing the incumbent as prime minister for a single year — after which Netanyahu would presumably return.
Katz apparently thought this would allow right-wing parties that oppose Netanyahu personally, including Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope, to join the government. Katz believed he would win the primaries and temporarily become prime minister.
“I believed my chances of election were high due to my roots in the movement and my extensive experience and the senior positions in which I successfully served as agriculture, transportation, intelligence, foreign and now finance minister,” Katz said.
Then-education minister Naftali Bennett (left) with former interior minister Gideon Sa’ar during Jerusalem Day celebrations at the Western Wall, on May 17, 2015. (Flash90)
Netanyahu rejected the offer.
Sa’ar and Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett are widely expected to announce this week that they are teaming up with the anti-Netanyahu Knesset bloc to form a right-center-left government ousting the incumbent from power. In the light of Katz’s proposal, the long-serving prime minister’s political demise would at least partly stem from Netanyahu’s refusal to temporarily step aside and allow a right-wing government to be formed with a different Likud leader at the helm.
"allow" - Google News
May 30, 2021 at 07:33PM
https://ift.tt/3pb7QIj
Katz says he suggested Netanyahu step aside for a year to allow right-wing gov't - The Times of Israel
"allow" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KTEV8j
https://ift.tt/2Wp5bNh
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Katz says he suggested Netanyahu step aside for a year to allow right-wing gov't - The Times of Israel"
Post a Comment