Water Minister and former Knesset member Zeev Elkin was interviewed tonight (Saturday) on the program ‘Meet the Press’ on Keshet 12 and told about his decision to leave the Likud and join Gideon Saar’s new party. According to him, “Netanyahu has been going through a tragedy in the past year and it is clear that personal consideration has become much more dominant for him.” Elkin also said that he estimated that many more Likud members would do the same and that “the troll in the country should be stopped and the leadership replaced.”
How has time been since the announcement?
“I received a lot of encouraging and encouraging responses, but the most interesting ones came from the Likud – profanity and disappointment and I understand that and I took it into account, because it is a very difficult decision because I liked the movement and the activists. “The Likudniks’ response is, ‘We can not put another note, but every word of yours is true.’
Video of Gideon Saar’s new party
Elkin criticized the difficult “discourse culture” these days in the Likud and also referred to the jokes about his role as water minister: “The culture of the discourse that is unfortunately popular with some Likud voters today is unfortunate. “It is impossible to step down from my position and Netanyahu will beg me to relinquish his commitment to me to be the energy minister for Yuval Steinitz. The person who created this position is now attacking me.”
When Elkin was asked how he left Netanyahu now, having previously sided with him and backed him, he said: “You can find many interviews that I praised Netanyahu and also in my speech I said I really appreciate him for what he contributed to the country because he is a talented writer, But he has changed before my eyes over the last year and there have always been problems, but the balance between the benefit to the state and the problematic things has always been in the best interest of the state, but in the last two years something happens to him. I am not anti-Bibi and I admired him and I really appreciate him, but what is happening is tragedy. His personal judgment becomes much more and more dominant for him. “We did not need these elections at a cost of billions. I begged him to stop it. ‘This is not good for you and the Likud,’ and all we saw later in the Knesset was an exchange of accusations. Going to the third election was the first crack between us.”
Elkin noted that there have always been ups and downs between him and the prime minister, but he has always made sure to leave them aside because “personal interest is marginal and uninteresting.” He added: “I decided to leave when I saw that the personal issue was taking us to the elections and I saw it coming back now. I can not come to the public today and tell them ‘vote for Netanyahu’ when I know that this election will bring them to the fifth and sixth elections. “Apparently, tragically, Netanyahu’s personal consideration becomes much more dominant in the decision – making process, which is why I said we need a different leadership.”
Will you sit in the government with Benjamin Netanyahu?
“Unequivocally I will not sit under Netanyahu in the government and Gideon said this clearly and I would not have taken this step if I had not been so convinced of my position. He makes dramatic decisions on political and security issues and it is impossible to know if he thinks this is right or he thinks it will help “In his personal judgment. It’s a dangerous situation. I also saw it in the management of the corona. The whole atmosphere he feels is persecuted and suspicious of everyone. You see how it is conducted and what the Likud looks like and you hear the Likud’s discourse. It is not the Likud of yesteryear.”
In conclusion, Elkin said: “The question at the moment is who is the right person to lead the State of Israel and in front of what I saw in the decision-making rooms I told myself I could not do it again. Everyone has to decide for themselves and it is a very difficult decision to leave the movement. They are not to blame for it – they were robbed of the movement. In the end the truth will win and the State of Israel will not allow it. Soon they will say I murdered, raped and stole money – that’s the style. We need a government that will take care of the citizens and stop this troll. “