Netanyahu prods Orbach: ‘There is a need to take action’

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu prods renegade Yamina lawmaker Nir Orbach during a memorial speech for the victims of the Altalena disaster.

“I know that Orbach’s heart is in the right place,” Netanyahu says.

“I know that Orbach is against a government that depends on the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council,” he says, referring to the advisory body of the coalition’s Islamist Ra’am party.

“I know he’s against transferring control of the country and the economy to Ra’am, the Joint List and other anti-Zionist forces,” Netanyahu says.

Directing his speech at Orbach, Netanyahu says, “You were right when you said in the Knesset in a moment of truth that the experiment has failed,” referring to the inclusion of an Arab party in the coalition.

“That failure is already endangering the entire country, endangering our future. At this crucial moment, there is a need to take action,” Netanyahu says.

A report from Channel 12 news today said Orbach and Netanyahu’s Likud party have agreed on the main points of Orbach’s potential defection.

Orbach has denied reports that he is in negotiations with Likud.

On Monday Orbach announced that he was freezing his membership in the coalition, accusing  “extremist, anti-Zionist elements” such as Arab MKs Mazen Ghanaim (Ra’am) and Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi (Meretz) of pulling the coalition “in problematic directions” and “holding it hostage.”