Idit Silman’s announcement left Bennett’s coalition, an alliance of parties ranging from the Jewish right and the Israeli pigeons to an Arab Muslim party, with 60 seats – the size of the opposition. “I tried the path of unity. “I worked hard for this coalition,” said Sillman, a religious conservative who served as president of the coalition, in a statement. “Unfortunately, I can not participate in damaging Israel’s Jewish identity.” On Monday, Silman attacked Health Minister Nijan Horovic after ordering hospitals to allow bread dough products to enter their premises during the upcoming Easter holiday, according to a recent Supreme Court ruling reversing a years-long ban. Jewish tradition forbids leavened bread from the public sector during Easter. “I am ending my membership in the coalition and I will try to keep talking to my friends to return home and form a right-wing government,” Silman said. “I know I’m not the only one who feels that way.” Bennett’s coalition may continue to rule with 60 seats, but it faces difficulties in passing new legislation. If another coalition member fails, however, the Knesset could hold a vote of confidence and possibly lead Israel back to the polls for a fifth parliamentary election in four years. Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst, said that if Silman “is the first person to really prepare to overthrow the government, he is doing so from a position of conviction”. “She is religious and I think we all underestimate the power of theology,” Scheindlin added. In an official resignation letter to Bennett, Silman said: “We have to admit we tried. “It’s time to reconsider and try to form a national, Jewish, Zionist government.” Following the announcement, Shillman was embraced by the same right-wing politicians who had ruthlessly attacked her since she followed Bennett into the ruling coalition last year, denying campaign promises. “Look, you are proof that what guides you is the concern for Israel’s Jewish identity, the concern for the land of Israel, and I welcome you back home to the national camp,” said opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. a video recording. “I call on anyone elected with the votes of the national camp to join Idit and return home, he will be accepted with all honor and open arms,” the right-wing former prime minister added. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 until last June, was sworn in as a spoiler against the Bennett government, which ended years in power. . “There is a weak and loose government in Israel today,” Netanyahu told a special session of the Knesset. His days are numbered. “ The Knesset will meet again on May 8 to continue its legislative work. To form his own coalition without new elections, Netanyahu would need the support of at least 61 lawmakers, which he does not have. Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist party, once a political ally of Bennett, praised Silman for her “courage to make the difficult move” and predicted that the ruling coalition would not survive its apostasy. “This is the beginning of the end for the left-wing, non-Zionist government of Bennett and the Islamic movement,” he wrote on Twitter. There was no immediate comment from Bennett, whose Yamina party now holds just five of the 120 seats in parliament.
