Idit Silman, MP for the Yamina Party, clarified on Sunday that she has no intention of reversing her dramatic decision last week to leave the coalition, threatening potential collapse.
“My decision to end my time in the Coalition was values-based and therefore final,” she said in a statement.
The breakaway MK urged its counterparts in the coalition and in the right-wing Yamina faction, led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, to “express the attitude of the majority of the Israeli public and establish a national Zionist government within this Knesset.”
Her statement came a day after a colleague of Yamina, Minister for Religious Affairs Matan Kahana, said he hoped Silman would reverse her move.
“With God’s help, Idit could still come back,” Kahana told Channel 12 News.
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Silman last week announced her surprise exit from the coalition but not the Knesset, saying the government would “damage” Israel’s Jewish identity.
Health Minister and head of the left-wing Meretz party Nitzan Horowitz will chair a parliamentary group meeting in the Knesset on January 3, 2021. (Yonatan SindelFlash90)
Her resignation comes days after she publicly criticized Health Secretary Nitzan Horowitz for insisting hospitals abide by rules allowing hametz — leavened products forbidden to religious Jews over Passover — to be brought into facilities.
Horowitz has reportedly been trying to meet with Silman in recent days to reach an agreement on the issue of hametz in hospitals, according to Kan Radio. According to Kan, the Meretz party leader clarified in a letter to Silman that he was willing to go far to reach a compromise on the matter.
Kan also said the health minister met with a senior Yamina politician and told them his Meretz party was ready to do whatever it takes to ensure the coalition doesn’t collapse.
However, political observers and Silman himself have said that her departure was not because of the Hametz issue per se, but because of what she represented – her feeling that Yamina no longer represented her core values. Intense right-wing pressures on Silman and her family are also believed to have played a role.
Silman’s defection left the government on the brink of collapse with just 60 seats out of 120. In opposition there are 54 MPs, led by MP Benjamin Netanyahu, plus another 6 MPs in the Joint List of mainly Arab parties opposed to Netanyahu. So although the government now lacks a majority, it is not immediately apparent that there is a majority to overthrow it.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a right-wing rally in Jerusalem on April 6, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)
The leader of the Joint List said he would not commit to joining a no-confidence vote as it would help Netanyahu in his goal of returning to power as prime minister.
Silman’s call for a new government to form within the current Knesset would require several additional members from Yamina, as well as other right-wing factions in the coalition, such as New Hope, to also defect and join the right-wing opposition parties in order to join the required majority of 61 achieve sitting.
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