MKs Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser of the tiny Derech Eretz faction say they will resign their governmental positions — though not their Knesset seats — if the parliament does not disband in the coming days.
“We will not support any further compromises,” the two say in a statement.
“We support disbanding the Knesset and returning to the voter in order to replace Netanyahu. If the coalition decides on another extension [of the deadline to pass a budget] we will resign our positions.”
Hendel is currently communications minister, while Hauser heads the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. These are the posts the two would be quitting.
Then Blue and White party members MKs Yoaz Hendel ,Zvi Hauser seen in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Hendel and Hauser were originally part of Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem faction of Blue and White. When the alliance broke up earlier this year, with Benny Gantz heading to the coalition and Ya’alon and Yair Lapid to the opposition, the two MKs broke away to form Derech Eretz and joined Gantz’s bloc in the government.
They have announced in recent days they plan to join breakaway Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar New Hope party for the next election.
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