MK Danny Danon (Likud) responded Monday afternoon to criticism by the Yesh Atid party over the decision to transfer previously frozen funds to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, branding the move "election bribery."
Yesh Atid officials were reacting to the request by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to transfer additional funds via the Finance Committee to regional councils in Judea-Samaria, the party said in a statement on Monday. That request was only made possible by the firing of Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid from his position as finance minister - and his party claimed Netanyahu's decision was made in order to garner votes ahead of March's elections.
But hitting back, Danon said Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria deserved the same services as those living elsewhere in the country, and accused Yesh Atid of discriminating against them by freezing the funds in the first place.
"The people who live in Judea and Samaria are equal citizens. they deserve infrastructure, they deserve education," said Danon, who earlier today announced he would be challenging Netanyahu as Likud party leader in upcoming primaries.
Danon further accused Yesh Atid of hypocrisy: "I wonder home come Yesh Atid, who decided to form their party in Ariel [a city in Samaria - ed.] ...now they are fighting with the committee against transfering funds... to the jewish communties in Judea and Samaria!"
Yesh Atid, along with Tzipi Livni's Hatnua party, are not centrist but "leftist", Danon continued, adding that with the breakdown of the government the former coalition partners had shown their true colors.
"I am happy that today people understand that you have the Right camp, the national camp - and you have... the extreme left which is led by Tzipi Livni and Bugi Herzog," he added, referring to reports of a pact brewing between Livni and Labor party leader Yitzhak "Bugi" Herzog.