Israeli Tourism Minister Asaf Zamir (Blue and White) announced Friday afternoon that he is resigning from the government.
In a Facebook post, Zamir excoriated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and lamented that his own efforts to influence the government from within had failed.
“I am fearful for the country. I fear that it is on the brink of total collapse. And I am certain that things won’t change so long as Netanyahu is prime minister.”
Zamir also accused Netanyahu of failing to properly address the coronavirus and the accompanying economic crisis, saying they were neglected in favor of the prime minister’s own legal concerns.
“After four and a half months as a member of the government, I can say definitively that the coronavirus crisis and its consequences are, at best, second on the prime minister’s priority list. His main concerns are personal and legal. It is clear from everything he does.”
“I always believed in trying to influence things from within, even at the cost of public criticism, so long as I believed that my work was making a positive impact, and making a difference. But now I do not feel that way, so after a difficult period of reflection, I have decided today to announce to the chairman of the Blue and White party, Benny Gantz, that I am resigning from the government.”
“I have a great deal of respect for Benny Gantz and I thank him for the faith he has placed in me and for the opportunities I received to be a part of the government. I have notified Gantz of my intention to continue on as a member of the party and to serve the public as a Knesset member.”