Deri accuses Liberman of extorting coalition with ‘delusional demands’

Shas chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri lashes out at Avigdor Liberman, accusing the Yisrael Beytenu leader of extorting him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the recent coalition negotiations.

“For reasons of rivalry and hatred, he decided to drag the entire county into this whole situation,” he says at a Shas faction meeting. “It’s over,” he said of their relationship.

“It’s difficult to describe their demands, but we agreed to them,” Deri says. “This is the first time in my life that I have ever felt extorted, but extorted in the most obvious sense of the word.”

“And yet despite this, we did everything possible to form a government. Every time we approached them, we were greeted with another delusional demand — and I have no doubt these demands were made intentionally for us to say no — but each time we said yes, there was another demand.”

“I feel very hurt and disappointed that he used us these past 40 days instead of just openly saying that he doesn’t want Netanyhau as prime minister.”