Photo: Rafael Levy
Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kish, who only a year ago was a big supporter of Saar in the primaries against Netanyahu, and even served as head of his election headquarters, today completely shuns his actions and clarifies that his decision helps the left camp first and foremost.
“He is unequivocally working against the right,” Kish said in an interview with Israel Today.
Kish also sharply attacks Saar’s partner, Yifat Shasha Bitton, accusing her of populism that has severely damaged the health care system in dealing with the plague.
In an interview, Kish reveals that this is not the first time that Saar is considering resigning from the Likud, and that after the loss in the primaries he shared with him the dilemma he already had then whether to leave the movement and embark on a new political path.
According to him, immediately after the primaries, he made it clear to Saar that there would be no Saar camp in the Likud: “After the functionaries had their say, I told Gideon that I would not run against Netanyahu again because I was present to find that he had a very large majority.”
He said that Saar was debating immediately afterwards whether to resign from the Likud and go on a new political path: “I told him that I think he should stay, and that leaving would be a mistake. Even today he is wrong. I will not speak against him. He has a lot of talent and abilities, but he made a mistake “It is difficult for him to leave the Likud. This is the house that will lead Israel for many years to come. He surprised me with his decision and he did not share me.”
Asked if Saar had offered to come with him, Kish replied, “I am a second generation Likud, my mother was a center member. I never thought there was any idea to go anywhere else. He made a serious mistake and it is a pity he made the mistake. Place”.
He was also asked whether an attack could harm the Likud government. “He said he would not sit in the Netanyahu government and I think that is also a mistake. I think this is not the time for polarization and messages of division. There are big challenges like the war in Corona, the economic, political and security situation.”
Kish says that after Saar’s press conference, he talked to him. “I picked up the phone. I told him I think he made a mistake but he is a friend and I appreciate him. Our political path parted and he chose a different framework, I stayed in the Likud and this is the movement that will lead the State of Israel. I can say that With the change in the Middle East and also with the Corona – he has once again proved that he is the right person in the right place for the State of Israel. ”
Asked if Gideon Saar is a member of the left-wing bloc, as claimed by Likud headquarters, Kish says, “I do not see him as a person with leftist views. But he is certainly working against the right. “