Meretz MK prays for ‘dear friend’ Uri Orbach

Meretz MK Ilan Gilon says he is worried about the medical condition of Senior Citizens Minister Uri Orbach (Jewish Home), who is hospitalized with a life-threatening disease in the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

Knesset member Ilan Gilon from the Meretz party. (photo credit: Flash90)
Knesset member Ilan Gilon from the Meretz party. (photo credit: Flash90)

“We are very close friends and I am worried about his condition. I pray – the only way I know – by sending him positive energies, that he will be well,” Gilon tells the Kikar Hashabat website.

Gilon and Orbach have forged a close friendship despite being polar opposites in their politics. “Each of us says the other’s political views are screwed up. We always wish one another ‘great success in a small party’ and we are very close friends beyond our political beliefs. I think he is totally wrong and he thinks the same about me,” he says.

MK Uri Orbach of the Jewish Home party. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Uri Orbach of the Jewish Home party (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“He’s a real man, an amazing person with a sense of humor and the ability for self-criticism. He is brilliant and wise,” says Gilon. “I prefer people with opinions diametrically opposing my own than people with no opinions, and this is why we are such good friends. I hope one day he sobers up. But in the meantime it’s important he gets well. I am waiting for him.”

Netanyahu recently appointed Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett as Orbach’s replacement due to Orbach’s temporary inability to fulfill his ministerial role.

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