Mutinous atmosphere in Likud against coalition chair MK Miki Zohar
Likud MK Shlomo Karhi begins effort to oust Zohar as Likud faction chair and coalition chair, but backs down after PM Netanyahu intervenes.
By JEREMY SHARONLikud parliament member Miki Zohar reacts during an arrangements committee meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, January 13, 2020.(photo credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90)
Tensions are rising within the Likud Party with mutinous mutterings against coalition chairman MK Miki Zohar after he issued sanctions on Tuesday against 12 party MKs for failing to vote in accordance with coalition discipline.MK Shlomo Karhi, one of those sanctioned, began gathering signatures Tuesday night to bring a vote for a new Likud faction chair, who would then become coalition chair, and said on Wednesday morning he had more than 10 supporters for such a move.And in a recorded conversation leaked to KAN News, Likud MK Uzi Dayan can be heard calling Zohar “a donkey,” and saying that he was “doing great damage to the Likud. If there’s a need we’ll get rid of him.”Karhi said on the Knesset Channel on Wednesday morning, however, that following a conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has backed Zohar, he had “frozen the process” since Netanyahu had said such a move was not correct during the current national health crisis.Karhi spoke out harshly on Tuesday night against Zohar after he said he was firing Likud MK Yifat Shasha-Biton as chairman of the Knesset Coronavirus Committee and sanctioned 12 Likud MKs for either absenting themselves from the gay conversion vote, or voting with the opposition.“Someone who behaves like a thug and gives briefings against members of his own faction should not expect silence and praise. He has been hitting all of us on the head for two months now,” said Karhi, adding “You can’t have immunity forever.”Zohar, the coalition chairman whose job is to whip votes for the government in Knesset, has clashed with several Likud MKs in recent weeks.He has repeatedly threatened to fire Shasha-Biton, who blocked the government’s COVID-19 policies on several occasions through her chairmanship of the Knesset Coronavirus Committee, a threat he now appears set to follow through on.Additionally, in an extraordinary exchange with Likud MK and Finance Minister Israel Katz last week, he threatened to have Netanyahu remove Katz from his position during a Knesset committee hearing after the finance minister accused Zohar of lobbying for increased compensation for event hall owners because his cousin owned an events hall.
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