Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening sent a letter of dismissal to Minister of Defense Yitzhak Mordechai. In the dramatic notice, Netanyahu explained, "Anyone who betrays our voters’ principles is not worthy to be among us. Therefore Mordechai cannot continue to serve as the Minister of Defense in the cabinet I head."
The notice surprised Mordechai, who has been considering his future in the Likud party for quite some time and had planned to decide whether he would stay with the party during the coming week. Reports in the past week that he was growing closer to Amnon Shahak’s centrist party were neither confirmed nor denied by Mordechai.
Mordechai responded harshly this evening to the letter of dismissal. "Mr. Netanyahu sent me a letter full of lies, written by a petty politician," he told Channel 2 News. "Netanyahu is not worthy of my trust, nor of the trust of the people of Israel. He risked everything for his own political needs. The people of Israel deserve better leadership, and my colleagues and I will offer just that."
This evening Netanyahu offered Moshe Arens to replace Mordechai at the Ministry of Defense. Arens had previously served in that position in Yitzhak Shamir’s cabinet. Mordechai’s dismissal takes effect on Monday evening, the very evening Arens is scheduled to face off against Netanyahu for leadership of the Likud party. It is possible that a deal is crystallizing inside the Likud under which Arens would run for party leadership Monday evening, but in the likely event of his loss, Netanyahu would give him the Defense Ministry. Arens is considered likely to accept.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on January 23, 1999