Cabinet ministers started throwing election punches on Sunday, minutes after they approved a date for voting. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar sparred for prime time – until the Cabinet secretary ended the public part of the meeting.
After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu congratulated the IDF for its successful pinpoint targeting of Gaza terrorists and after he warned that Israel is engaged in cyber warfare against terrorist computer hackers, Sa'ar chimed in with a detailed presentation of improvements in Israeli high education.
As the cameras clicked away, Barak couldn’t bear being out of the limelight and asked for equal time. Netanyahu, with whom Barak has maintained an uneasy “odd couple” relationship in the coalition, chided Barak that he already won prime time.
Barak made another pitch for publicity, but Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser, seeing there would be no end to the sparring, advised Prime Minister Netanyahu, “I suggest that we end, at this point, the public part of our meeting.