Sunday’s Israeli cabinet meeting deteriorated into a shouting match between Bayit Yehudi and Likud ministers over the appointment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as minister of defense and not Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, Israeli media reported.
The fight in the closed-door meeting began when ministers were asked to vote on the appointment. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) objected, saying that she would abstain, because “Israel” needed a full-time defense minister, and it should be Bennett, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“We have lost our deterrence,” Jpost quoted Bennett as complaining in the meeting.
“The hands of the IDF must be unshackled from the handcuffs of fake law and fake ethics. Israelis are being killed because the terrorists are no longer afraid,” Bannett said referring to Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
Netanyahu replied that prime ministers have been defense ministers before. He mocked Bennett for issuing an ultimatum last month to receive the portfolio and then backing off.
“This is a stupid attempt,” Netanyahu said, according to ministers.
Likud ministers Ze’ev Elkin and Israel Katz then attacked Shaked, saying that as justice minister, she is responsible for approving destroying the homes of Palestinians.
Bennett defended Shaked and then left the meeting in what was seen by the ministers as “angrily slamming the door.”
But Bennett’s spokesman said he left to the funeral of journalist Noah Klieger.
Source: Jerusalem Post
