Minister of Religious Affairs Michael Malchieli (Shas) addressed the decision to withdraw from the government in an interview with the ynet studio, saying: "Shas and Deri paid prices for staying and strengthening the right-wing bloc. The court decided that Deri cannot be a minister, he remained a Knesset member only to preserve the bloc." Malchieli explained that "Netanyahu is the Prime Minister. We made the coalition agreement with him not with Edelstein, we resigned from his government. He is responsible for the matter."