Aryeh Deri
Deri promises elections if Netanyahu is forced to resign
As the prime minister finds himself embroiled in an array of alleged bribery scandals, interior minister says no point in attempting to form a new government if Netanyahu steps down; Another minister promises no one in the coalition is pressuring Netanyahu to go.
In a conversation with his close associates, Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri said Thursday night that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigns, the country will once again be taken into elections.
The Shaas leader’s comments were made as he explained how he would act if Netanyahu chooses, or is forced to, resign in the event that an indictment is issued against him amid a series of bribery allegations.
According to Deri, there would be no point in attempting to assemble a replacement government headed by another candidate, “even if the replacement candidate for Netanyahu was from Likud.”
Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri
Officials in the political establishment however, dismissed the same night that Aryeh’s remarks were a mere spin, and that should Netanyahu actually choose to step down, Deri himself would be among those more than willing and prepared to form a replacement government rather than ask the nation to go to the voting booths again.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Army Radio Thursday, Minister Tzachi Negbi (Likud) assured that there would be no repeat against Netanyahu of Ehud Barak’s pressure on Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign over a string of bribery allegations levelled against him and his threat to disband the government if he failed to do so.
Tzachi Hanegbi (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
Hanegbi labeled Barak as a “traitor” for his actions. “Barak betrayed Olmert who allowed him to be the defense minister,” Hanegbi said. “At the end of the day, it was he (Barak) who paid the price and disappeared from public life. People don’t like this kind of manipulation.”
Asked whether a similar scenario could occur in Netanyahu’s case, Hanegbi responded: “There is no faction of the coalition that would make this kind of ultimatum.”
