Resigning Yisrael Beytenu MK Says She Was Kept In Dark On Coalition Talks

Israeli MPs and dignitaries at the Knesset
AFP

The Times of Israel reports: MK Orly Levy-Abekasis, who announced Thursday that she would leave the Yisrael Beytenu party over its expected entry into the Likud-led government, said Saturday that she had been deliberately kept in the dark with regard to coalition talks.

“I did not know anything in real time,” Levy-Abekasis, who was number 2 on the party list, said during an interview with Channel 2. “I think the intention was for me not to know so that I will not make demands on social issues.”

The lawmaker, who will remain in the opposition, complained that her party had not placed any emphasis on advancing social causes during negotiations over entering the government.

“The issues for which I turned to public action relate to children at risk, the elderly, the poor, public housing, for those people who are truly transparent, not just as a slogan,” Levy-Abekasis said.

The lawmaker made her resignation announcement as negotiations between Yisrael Beytenu and Likud were still ongoing, with both sides indicating a final deal would be signed shortly. According to recent reports, Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman dropped demands to advance conversion reforms, civil unions and increased IDF enlistment for the ultra-Orthodox.

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