As minister resigns, Israel’s government more fragile than ever
The resignation of Minister Eli Avidar reflects the fragility of the Bennett-Lapid coalition, composed of a narrow majority of 61 Knesset members.
Minister Eli Avidar submitted his letter of resignation on Tuesday afternoon [Feb. 22], possibly marking the beginning of the end for the current coalition.
Avidar resigned from the Knesset last July upon being appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, in keeping with the Norwegian Law, which requires ministers give up their Knesset seats. He will return to be a regular member of Knesset on Thursday afternoon, 48 hours after he submitted his resignation.
From that point onward, Avidar will be the 61st vote in a very narrow coalition. He is expected to operate as a one-man faction, and to make demands for every major vote to a coalition that already has problems getting its legislation through the Knesset.
Avidar’s resignation came after he did not receive the appointment he wanted as Minister of Intelligence. Instead, he remained a minister without portfolio, with no direct responsibility or influence on government policy. At the press conference, he presented a serious indictment of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the coalition as a whole. While he said that he has no plans to bring down the government, which he supported in order to rid the country of Netanyahu’s “government of darkness,” there is no way of knowing how far he will go.
