‘Jewish Intifada’ Planned in Israel Coalition Feud
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely encounter harsh opposition within his Likud party if high-ranking ministers and Knesset members soon find themselves without a job.
Party officials on Sunday threatened an “intifada”, or uprising, over what they call “Netanyahu’s failure to give out positions” to members of Likud and other formerly close coalition partners.
The first conflict involves Netanyahu’s anticipated decision to dismiss Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin from his position. “Netanyahu doesn’t want a liberal Likud, but a Lieberman-style Likud,” a party official said, adding, “Netanyahu’s increased closeness to Lieberman at the expense of the liberal camp – Rivlin, [Dan] Meridor and [Benny] Begin – is very worrisome.”
Although over the past few weeks Rivlin reportedly received a series of promises that he would keep his position, including a written promise from a third party, on Saturday it turned out otherwise. “Rivlin is the first to be disappointed. He is learning what other high-ranking party members to whom Netanyahu made promises learned – that Netanyahu’s word is worthless,” another official said.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO