There is even more anger in the Bayit Yehudi party after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu refused to appoint party chairman Minister Naftali Bennet as Defense Minister following the announced resignation of Avigdor Lieberman.
Many feel that PM Netanyahu should have appointed Deputy Defense Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan as the replacement for Lieberman, but Mr. Netanyahu refuses to do this, just as he refuses to give the portfolio to Bayit Yehudi leader Bennet. Ben-Dahan’s position ended when Lieberman’s letter of resignation went into effect on Sunday, 10 Kislev. Now Ben-Dahan is left without a post.
Bayit Yehudi officials stated, “The prime minister’s abuse of the Bayit Yehudi party, this time by dismissing the deputy defense minister, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, is an unfair act and an injustice to an honest and ethical public servant. The prime minister would not have acted like that against any other party, and he is an excellent deputy minister whose staff will lose its job immediately. We call on the prime minister to rescind his decision”.
Ben-Dahan himself said: “The political crisis caught me in the midst of important work on many projects, for reservists, IDF veterans, residents of Yehuda and Shomron and many more.
“This is part of the coalition agreement, and my continued activity in the Defense Ministry is not related to the future of the coalition, as it does not relate to the work of the other ministers.”
Some Bayit Yehudi officials feel Mr. Netanyahu’s actions towards Ben-Dahan is an attempt to pressure the dati leumi party to remain in the coalition, even if party leader Bennet does not receive the Defense Minister appointment.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
this is more than just another job
The number 2 man in the government
He is good as Deputy Defense Minister.
Bennett should get in line and drop his demands, and in that scenario, Rabbi Ben-Dahan will remain as Deputy under the PM.
I really think it is very poor for the PM to hold both of the two most important ministeries, Defense and Foreign, though.
He should not be holding even one, and should have assigned both of those ministeries to within his own greatly majority party, originally, and he would have not had this crisis with Liberman now.
Maybe it’s time he gives up the Foreign Ministery to his most faithful party member, who has had time to learn the ropes a bit, Tzipi Hotolevy.