PM ‘regrets’ Ya’alon’s resignation, refusal of Foreign Ministry

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday expressed regret at Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s decision to resign from his post, and from his position as a lawmaker for Likud. Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, meanwhile, quickly called on Ya’alon to join his party.

“I regret Bogie Ya’alon’s decision,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the defense minister by his nickname.

“I think he should have continued to be a full partner in the leadership of the state, in the role of foreign minister. I wish to thank him for his years of service in the IDF and in the security establishment.

“I very much appreciate our cooperation, days and nights, for the sake of Israel’s security – including during Operation Protective Edge,” Netanyahu continued, referring to the 2014 conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

The prime minister denied that the portfolio reshuffle that triggered Ya’alon’s departure was down to a crisis of confidence between the two, but rather from the need to expand the government, “in order to bring stability to the State of Israel in light of the great challenges it faces.”

“I suppose that if Bogie Ya’alon had not been asked to leave the Defense Ministry and move to the Foreign Ministry, we would not have what he calls a crisis of trust between us – and he would have not resigned,” Netanyahu said, indulging in a hint of criticism at Ya’alon’s explosive speech on Friday morning.

Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, however, heaped praise on Ya’alon, saying the minister — like he himself when he entered into coalition talks — had acted out of “national responsibility.” He lauded Ya’alon’s decision “to stand against the predatory populism of the far-right junta and for his principles.”

He also praised Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levy-Abekasis’s decision to leave her party, describing her as “one of the most important and ethical MKs.”

Herzog also continued to defend his efforts to form a unity government with Netanyahu, writing on his Facebook page Friday that the decision to enter such a pact was to him a “national responsibility.” Deflecting the fierce criticism from members of his party who opposed the move, Herzog attributed the unpopularity of the negotiations to their “necessarily secretive nature” in recent weeks.

The opposition leader called on both Ya’alon and Levy-Abekasis, who quit her party on Thursday, to join the Zionist Union.

In yet another stab at his Labor colleague and prime adversary Shelly Yachimovich, Herzog wrote that “the radical left has no room in Zionist Union. But Bogie and Orly indeed do.”

Meanwhile, Likud will field Yehuda Glick, a fringe member of the party who survived an assassination attempt two years ago, to replace Ya’alon in the Knesset on Sunday.

Glick, whose Temple Mount activism and call for freedom of religious ritual for all faiths have made him a divisive figure, said Friday that the departing defense minister still deserves respect.

“I suggest to my friends in Likud not to dismiss the words of Bogie Ya’alon,” Glick said in reference to Ya’alon’s comments on “dangerous forces” that “took over” Likud and the State of Israel. “Not everything is bleak, and his comments were made at a moment of pain, but they express something worth listening to.”

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who recently entered into his own now defunct pact with Liberman, avoided commenting Friday on the talks between Netanyahu and Herzog, but called the maneuver that led the Yisrael Beytenu leader landing the coveted defense portfolio as a “yard sale of Israeli values.”

“Our politicians – both right and left wing – took the most important facets of our lives – security, foreign affairs, the core values of Israeli society – and said, they are not important. What’s important is how we screw over one another, what job we get, which chair we occupy,” he said in a statement.

“The old politics are bankrupt,” Lapid said. “It happened long ago, but last week it happened in front of the cameras. It was shameful to see, and I believe every Israeli citizen was ashamed for [those involved]. We do not deserve this, no one deserves a political system to be ashamed of. It should be different, and we will not rest and not sit quietly until it is different,” he said.

President Reuven Rivlin, never an ally of Netanyahu, issued a brief statement Friday on Ya’alon’s resignation.

“I am greatly saddened by the resignation of Lt. Gen. (Res.) Moshe Ya’alon,” he said.

“Against the backdrop of recent events, the break from political life he is taking is understandable, and even appropriate, but at the same time represents a great loss for us all.

“‘Bogie is a practical, professional leader; brave, modest, considerate and responsible for the sake of the security of the state for decades. I am hopeful that he will restore his energy, and soon return to serve the people and the country,” Rivlin said.