In lockstep with his return to health, Bibi emerged from the political crisis with a reinforced coalition
PHOTO: CHAIM GOLDBERG/FLASH90
The two men who were jointly managing the war just two months ago were in very different places last Friday, geographically and health-wise. Dismissed defense minister Yoav Gallant, who resigned from the Knesset last week, was sipping wine in his moshav of Zichron Yaakov, per his old Friday night tradition.
A world away from Gallant’s tranquility, Prime Minister Netanyahu was being discharged from the hospital after recovering from a difficult surgery the previous Sunday. Having been forced to leave the hospital with a double dose of pain killers on the third day of recovery to quell a revolt in the Knesset, Netanyahu took a few days off to rest before the next crisis. In lockstep with his return to health, Bibi emerged from the political crisis with a reinforced coalition.
After locking Foreign Minister Gideon Saar into the right-wing coalition last week, with the signing of the agreement to bring him back into the Likud, Netanyahu received another Knesset vote as a gift, with the swearing-in of Druze Likud MK Afif Abed following Gallant’s resignation from the Knesset.
In addition, Netanyahu was successful in getting maverick Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen to cross the Bibicon and vote in favor of the budget last week, against his party’s position.
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