Netanyahu posts photo with Likud MK in attempt to clear the air

23 February 2022, 5:17 pm

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Opposition chairman Benjamin Netanyahu (right) poses with Likud MK David Amsalem, on February 23, 2022. (Benjamin Netanyahu/Twitter)

Likud chairman and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu posts a photo with fellow faction member David Amsalem in an apparent attempt to clear the air between the two of them.

Amsalem attacked Netanyahu earlier today, saying that his party leader “damaged the dignity” of the right-wing bloc by distancing himself from Amsalem’s incendiary comments about Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut.

Last week, Amsalem raged against the court from the Knesset plenum, alleging that petitions he had filed were rejected by the bench due to discrimination against Jews of Middle Eastern or North African extraction.

Amsalem’s comments prompted an open letter from Hayut, followed a few hours later by a statement from Netanyahu saying that he had spoken to the Supreme Court chief justice, and that the comments by his longtime confidant were unacceptable.

“I do not in any way accept that he called Hayut, it is not right. He has damaged the dignity of the national camp,” Amsalem told the Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday, using a phrase used to describe the right-wing bloc.

A few hours later, Netanyahu posts a conciliatory tweet with a photo of himself and Amsalem, with the Song of Songs quote “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” a play on the Hebrew spelling of Amsalem’s nickname.