Charedie Hypocrits 'Willing to forgive Liberman to form a government'

 

MK Aryeh Deri, who chairs the Sephardic-haredi Shas party, has said that he is willing to compromise in order to form a government and avoid new elections.

Previously, Deri said about Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) that, "There is no forgiveness...not in this world, and not in the next world."

In an interview with Israel Hayom, Deri said, "Even if Evet Liberman wants to come back - we will tell him, 'Certainly, come.' If he wants to join the coalition and be part of us together, that is possible. I am willing to forgive - anything in order to form a normal government." 

Avigdor Liberman was born Evet Liberman. He changed his name to the Hebrew Avigdor after immigrating to Israel in 1978. In recent years, politicians angry with Liberman have begun referring to him as Evet.

Regarding coalition chair MK Idit Silman's (Yamina) decision to bolt the coalition, Deri said, "I was not surprised by Silman's resignation from the government. For a few days already we had been in contact, I was skeptical. In the middle of the night they told me that it's final. I hope that she is not the last. Very soon we will hear about another one or two who will do the same thing. I won't name names. We are in the middle of an ongoing event, and I hope that it will end well."

Regarding the price paid to Silman, Deri said, "Any price that needs to be paid to bring down this evil government is worth paying."

He added, "We are talking about one of the MKs that we have been communicating with, who did not want to receive a place in the Likud because he does not get along with them. I offered him a place in Shas."

"Silman took a brave step. I had harsh criticism of her but she took a brave step. Our sister, blessed is she who comes home. She has a respectable place in our coalition. And those who will yet come also have a place. We will all compromise, we will all give in a bit on positions in the government."

"From today, it is a new day. Silman is not the last. As of this moment, with the situation 60-60, the government can no longer function, period. There is a good chance of increasing the 60 and then we need to see if we are going to new elections or creating another, alternative government.

"We have a majority with [Justice Minister] Gideon Sa'ar (New Hope) and Yamina. If they come home and tell us, 'We made a mistake. We had revenge, we were annoyed, but we are coming home,' believe me, we will not remind them for a minute afterwards that they did something not okay. I will make sure of that. We will accept them with complete love."

Turning to those MKs, Deri said, "Come back to us, let's form a government. You'll receive senior positions."

"Will it erase everything for them? I am erasing everything. I'll make sure that they receive the best honors possible. [MK Benjamin] Netanyahu (Likud) will also receive them with love."

The full interview will be published in Israel Hayom on Friday