The Jewish House faction announced that the party would not vote with the coalition until MK Eli Ben Dahan was reappointed as deputy defense minister.
"In the past few hours, we have worked intensively with the Prime Minister's Bureau to prevent the unfair decision to dismiss the deputy defense minister, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, who was rejected for no reason," the faction's statement said.
"Unfortunately, the prime minister and those who act with force against the Jewish Home, as they would not have done with any other party, created an asymmetrical situation in which the deputy defense minister was forced to pay the price for the disgraceful resignation of the defense minister who ran away from his responsibility," the party continued.
"There is no reason to fire a whole team of deputy ministers and advisers and send some families to immediate unemployment because of an inexplicable whim," the statement added. "Unfortunately, despite repeated requests, the Prime Minister's Office remains silent."
"We will not allow this absurdity, so the Jewish Home Party will not vote with the coalition in any vote until the prime minister retracts his decision," the party's statement said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's office said in response that "the role of Deputy Defense Minister Eli Dahan will be dealt with in the coming days."
Netanyahu's associates had promised to raise the issue for discussion and vote at today's cabinet meeting, but in the end the vote did not occur.
The term of office of the deputy minister expires automatically when the tenure of the minister under which he is serving ceases, and therefore Ben Dahan's term of office expired with Liberman's resignation. Apparently, the refusal stems from Netanyahu's attempt to pressure the Jewish Home to reach an agreement on the continuation of the government's term and to avoid early elections
"The political crisis caught me in the midst of important work on many projects, for reservists, disabled IDF veterans, residents of Judea and Samaria and many other issues," Ben Dahan said in response to the failure to reappoint him as deputy defense minister at the cabinet meeting. "My activities at the Defense Ministry do not relate to the future of the coalition, as it does not relate to the work of the other ministers, and the technical process can only be carried out by telephone."