From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 26, 2022
Likud MK David Bitan: Coalition partners are ‘acting like little kids’
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Likud MK David Bitan slams his party’s coalition partners in the incoming government for their behavior during coalition negotiations as well as comments they made in recent days.
“It’s not just that they’re not acting like adults — they’re acting like little kids,” says Bitan in an interview on Knesset TV, calling out by name MKs Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
Likud’s coalition partners — the Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Shas and United Torah Judaism parties — have “exploited the fact that there is no alternative, and this is what happened,” says Bitan, pointing to extreme demands made during negotiations.
Bitan, who was once Netanyahu’s fiercest defender in the press but has sparred with him more recently, says the Likud chief needs to take a firm stance as head of the incoming government.
“Netanyahu has to show that he’s the one in charge… if not, he’ll suffer through his entire term in office,” says Bitan.
Bitan says even his fellow Likud MKs who agree with his criticism “are not speaking. They’re scared to speak” — in particular those who are waiting to receive a ministerial post, he notes.
“Don’t you think Amir Ohana should have commented on issues of the LGBT community — of course he should have,” says Bitan of Likud’s only openly gay MK, referencing the uproar over anti-LGBT comments made yesterday by Religious Zionism MKs.
The Times of Israel Community.