Alwaght- Avi Gabbay, Israeli environment minister, officially resigned on Friday in protest to Netanyahu’s decision as appointing Avigdor Lieberman to the regime’s new minister for military affairs.
Gabbay said in a resignation statement on Friday that the recent “political maneuvering” and replacement are “grave actions that ignore what is important for [Israel’s] security and will bring about more extremism and rifts among the people,”
Netanyahu had summoned Lieberman’s predecessor Moshe Ya’alon and reproached him over supporting an analogy between Israel’s situation and Nazi Germany.
Ya’alon then officially resigned both from the cabinet and the Knesset (parliament), citing “lack of trust” in the premier. He also said Israel and the ruling Likud Party was taken over by “dangerous and radical officials.”
"I could not accept the removal of Yaalon, a professional defense minister," Gabbay said.
The public wants a rightist cabinet, but they do not support the establishment of an extremist cabinet, Gabbay added.
On May 20, Israel’s former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak described the removal of Ya’alon and his replacement with Lieberman as a “purge” and said it “should be a red light for all of us regarding what’s going on in the administration.”
“This administration needs to be brought down before it brings all of us down,” the former Israeli prime minister said, adding that foreign officials he speaks to are no longer supportive of Israel.
Gabbay, of the centre-right Kulanu party, is not a member of parliament and his resignation does not affect the ruling rightwing coalition's majority.
