Silman: My decision to leave the coalition is final

Yamina MK Idit Silman says that she has no intention of walking back her dramatic decision last week to exit the coalition.

“My decision to end my time in the coalition was based on values and therefore it is final,” she says in a statement.

The renegade MK says she calls on her friends in the coalition and in the Yamina faction “to express the stance of the majority of the Israeli public and establish a national Zionist government within this Knesset.”

Silman announced her surprise departure from the coalition but not from the Knesset last week, leaving the government teetering on the brink of collapse with just 60 seats and no majority. Silman’s call to form a new government within the current Knesset would likely require several additional members of Yamina and other right-wing factions in the coalition, such as New Hope, to also defect and join with the right-wing opposition parties.