Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon was recorded telling a resident of southern Israel he has decided to quit because “98 percent” of his orders are ignored, in what the treasury head later maintained was a joke.
According to Channel 13, which aired the recording on Tuesday, Kahlon made the remark on the phone with a business owner from the Gaza periphery, who was protesting the government holdup of funds designed to compensate for a flareup in violence from the enclave.
“Listen, you want to hear something? Ninety-eight percent of my instructions are not implemented,” Kahlon says in the recording.
“So why are you a minister?” asked the business owner.
“That’s why I’m quitting,” Kahlon replied.
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In a later statement to the network, Kahlon said the remark was “said humorously,” denying his intention to resign.
Kahlon has served as finance minister since 2015. A former head of the Kulanu party, he is running on a joint ticket with Likud in the upcoming election in two weeks’ time.
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