Following the political storm in recent days, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trying to prevent the coalition's dissolution, the ministers in the Habayit Hayehudi party have announced their support for the prime minister.
In a statement Jewish Home chairperson and Minister of Education Naftali Bennett and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked said, "I don't know how long this government will survive with support from 61 MKs, but we're willing to try. If the government finally begins to move along the right path, to act as a real rightwing government, it's worthwhile doing. The ball is in the prime minister's hands - will we break free of our feeble policy against Hamas? Will we recover from panic? Will we halt the terrorist kindergartens? Will we stop making the murder of Jews in Israel worthwhile? The test will be in deeds. We won't be spectators in the stands; we'll lend a hand and do our best to help. From here, we'll gladly resume leadership in educating Israeli children,"
"Many people have implored us in recent days to resign," Shaked said. "After Liberman did it, they asked why we missed the boat. We are public emissaries with responsibility on our shoulders; we will never evade responsibility. We will not engage in political maneuvers that jeopardize Israel's security. Naftali Bennett is the right person to serve as Israel's minister of defense, to put new spirit into the system and make Israel a winner again.
"The decision we took may harm us personally. We chose to act out of national responsibility. Our steering is too important to be removed from the helm. The Jewish Home party will continue to be this government's national compass. I hope that the day will come soon when we will also do this in Israel's national security, and I have a committee for selecting judges on Friday."
At the meeting of the Jewish Home party faction at the Knesset, Bennett stated, "Israel is in a security credibility crisis. The problem is not our enemies; we have always had enemies. The situation today is not more dangerous than it was several months ago when the prime minister tried to dissolve his government for political reasons or because of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation. It was also wrong then to politicize security. There is no apocalypse in store; there are enemies. It is not the enemy who worries me, however - something bad is happening to us internally. For quite a few years, including in the past decade under the governments headed by Netanyahu, Israel has stopped winning. I saw it personally in the Second Lebanon War when I commanded the western sector in southern Lebanon. I saw the confusion, I saw the bewilderment, I saw the lack of determination, and the absence of morale."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 19, 2018
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