Netanyahu considering firing Bezalel Smotrich following sharp criticism

By Jeremy Sharon

August 12, 2019 13:47 

 

“An idiotic justice system. Sorry that despite my status [as a minister] I couldn’t find a more delicate word,” tweeted Smotrich. 

 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering firing Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich over comments he made describing Netanyahu as weak and having demonstrated “zero leadership,” as well as describing the legal system as “idiotic.”

Comments made by Smotrich describing the justice system as “idiotic,” and accusing Netanyahu of showing “zero leadership” generated a political storm on Monday morning. 

Smotrich was responding to a ruling by the Nazareth District Court which banned gender segregation for an ultra-Orthodox concert in Afula.

“An idiotic justice system. Sorry that despite my status [as a minister] I couldn’t find a more delicate word,” tweeted Smotrich after the ruling was publicized.

He went on to accuse Netanyahu of being “weak” and demonstrating “zero leadership” and “zero governance” while adding acerbically that “Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber is “the real prime minister.”

According to Channel 12 News, Netanyahu and his staff have been in deliberations all of Monday morning on the pros and cons of firing Smotrich following his comments.

The benefits are that there would be little political cost since Smotrich and the United Right party of which he is a senior leader has no other option but to back Netanyahu to be the next prime minister, given Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s more centrist positions.
  Firing Smotrich would also separate him and his radical religious policies from Netanyahu which have become a political liability in the current election campaign which Yisrael Beytenu has fully exploited.

A spokesman for Likud said the party had “no comment” on the report.

Despite the criticism his comments generated, Smotrich doubled down on his accusations, saying in a later tweet that “For ten years he [Netanyahu] has let the justice system destroy our wonderful state. Until now he has even taken pride that he has prevented any reform to it.”

Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis hit back at Smotrich, reminding him of the Talmudic maxim that “proper behavior precedes the Torah,” saying that his comments were especially inappropriate given that they were made on the Fast of Tisha B’Av on Sunday.

“The day which symbolises above all others “baseless hatred, division, and schism amongst our people, which brought about our dispersal in every direction 2,000 years ago,” wrote Akunis on his Facebook page.

“This minister needs to apologize today and remember that the responsibility over the justice system was in the hands of his party and a minsiter on his list,” Akunis continued in reference to United Right leader Ayelet Shaked who served as justice minister in the Bayit Yehudi party during the four year term of the last government.

Shaked herself stated that Smotrich was akin to US President Donald Trump in that “no one can control his tweets,” and said that she disagreed with the way her party colleague has expressed himself, although agreed with what he said in principal.

“In the essence of what he said he is totally right. The haredi community deserves to enjoy cultural events exactly as you and I do,” Shaked said on Kan Radio Monday morning.

MK Eli Avidar of the Yisrael Beytenu party, which has castigated the religious parties in its election campign, weighed in too, accusing Smotrich of “messianism” and of seeking to take Israel back to biblical times.

“Someone who wants to discriminate against women in the public domain, who wants girls doing national-service behind a curtain, and women at the back of the bus will vote for Ayelet Shaked. Someone who wants a liberal right-wing - very person living according to their own beliefs - will vote for Yisrael Beytenu,” said Avidar. 

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Smotrich-attack-on-justice-system-Netanyahu-creates-political-storm-598379