Occupied Palestine (QNN) – A key member of Israeli coalition government announced Wednesday that she is quitting from the coalition, depriving it of a parliamentary majority.
Israeli media said that Idit Silman, member of the Knesset for the Yamina Party, decided to withdraw from the coalition government, after ideological disagreements with parties within the coalition.
The Israeli newspaper of Yedioth Ahronoth said that Silman did not tell Prime Minister Bennett and his partner of the coalition Foreign Minister Yair Lapid of her move, leaving them to hear of it from the media.
The Israeli media expected that the main reason for leaving the coalition is the decision of Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz from the left-wing Meretz party to allow leavened bread products into hospitals during the upcoming Passover holiday, which is against Jewish tradition.
Commenting on her decision, Silman said that she cannot take part in harming the Jewish character of ‘Israel’ and that she will continue to try to persuade her friends to return home and form a right-wing government.
For his part, former prime minister Binjamin Netanyahu praised Silman’s decision and welcomed her ‘back home’ to the right.
According to the Israeli media, Silman is set to join the Likud party in the opposition, giving Benjamin Netanyahu’s party a potentiality to return to power.
However, Netanyahu would need the support of at least 61 lawmakers in order to form a coalition of his own without new elections.
