200 people demonstrate in Tel Aviv against Yisrael Beytenu’s entry into coalition
Hundreds of people on Saturday evening were protesting the appointment of Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman to the Defense Ministry and the party’s entry into the governing coalition.
The protesters were gathered at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, with some holding signs that read “Liberman [is a] fascist” and “Liberman, minister of war.”
Israeli media reports put the number of demonstrators at just over 200.
Liberman was offered — and accepted — the defense ministry portfolio in a deal that would see his five-seat party join the Likud-led coalition amid months-long efforts by Netanyahu to expand his wafer-thin 61-seat majority. Talks with Liberman have continued in recent days, but a coalition deal with his party has not yet been finalized.
The dramatic development on Thursday has roiled the Israeli political arena and prompted the heated resignation Friday of the outgoing defense minister and former IDF chief Moshe Ya’alon.
In his final speech in the post on Friday, Ya’alon warned that “extremist and dangerous forces have taken over Israel and the Likud movement and are destabilizing our home and threatening to harm its inhabitants.”
“I have no intention of [permanently] leaving public life, and in the future I will return as a candidate for national leadership,” he said.
The imminent appointment of Liberman, an outspoken populist who has threatened to assassinate Hamas leaders and has called Arab lawmakers “traitors,” to such a sensitive post has drawn widespread criticism, including from Netanyahu supporters such as former cabinet minister Benny Begin.
Netanyahu and Ya’alon have also sparred in recent weeks over Ya’alon’s defense of IDF prosecutors in the trial of a soldier who shot and killed a disarmed Palestinian stabber in March, and his call on Israel Defense Forces generals to speak out on moral issues.
“I worked with the prime minister harmoniously and respectfully, seriously and substantively, for a long time, and certainly during Operation Protective Edge, and for that I want to thank him,” Ya’alon said Friday.
“But to my great regret, I have found myself lately in deep disagreement over professional and ethical issues with the prime minister, a number of ministers and a few members of Knesset.
“I have fought with all my strength against radicalization, violence and racism in Israeli society, which threatens its resilience and percolates also into the IDF, already causing it harm,” he said.
“I have fought with all my strength against attempts to harm the Supreme Court and Israel’s judges, processes whose result will cause grave damage to the rule of law and could be disastrous for our country.”
Ya’alon’s fiery speech, unusual for the soft-spoken former IDF chief of staff, makes it unlikely that he will find himself returning to Likud’s ranks anytime soon.
As reported by The Times of Israel