Israel’s ex-defense minister: ‘Extremist and dangerous elements have overrun Israel’

Israel’s defense minister resigned on Friday, saying the nation was being taken over by “extremist and dangerous elements” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to replace him with a far-right politician in an effort to strengthen his coalition.

 

Political sources say Netanyahu has offered long-time rival Avigdor Lieberman the defense portfolio, a post crucial for a country on a perennial war footing and which runs civil affairs in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians struggling for statehood live in friction with Jewish settlers.

 

“To my great regret, I have recently found myself in difficult disputes over matters of principle and professionalism with the prime minister, a number of cabinet members and some lawmakers,” a grim-faced Moshe Yaalon said in a televised statement at the defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.

 

“The State of Israel is patient and tolerant toward the weak among it and minorities … But to my great regret extremist and dangerous elements have overrun Israel as well as the Likud party, shaking up the national home and threatening harm to those in it,” he said, in a hint he might defect from the party.

 

Read More: Israel’s ex-defense minister: ‘Extremist and dangerous elements have overrun Israel’ – Business Insider