MK Oren Hazan (Likud) has been under attack in the media for weeks, but the fresh-faced MK asserted Thursday that he is not hurt by the verbal assaults.
Hazan, who placed thirtieth on the Likud list and is therefore the last Likud MK in the Knesset, has been accused in recent days of being the man likely to destabilize Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's fourth government.
The latest attack came Wednesday in a Yedioth Ahronoth op-ed piece, in which columnist Nahum Barnea wrote: "A government based on 61 Knesset members is now Netanyahu's government. It is Likud MK Oren Hazan's government. When he pleases, he will hold it above water; when he pleases, he will drown it in the sink. It depends on the mood he wakes up in or on who annoys him in the afternoon."
But Hazan brushed aside the criticism, telling Arutz Sheva on Thursday that "the government does not depend on me. It depends on all the members of the Knesset."
"I am completely loyal to the Prime Minister and this will be a stable government," he added.
According to Hazan, the attacks stem from the Left's inability to digest the right-wing Likud's victory. "Those who are familiar with the headlines know there are parts of the Left who have not absorbed it, and cannot digest the Right's strong victory."
"I'm the Likud's thirtieth mandate, and that's a symbol of victory," Hazan continued. "They cannot attack the Prime Minister and his wife, so they attack me. But I've come to the Knesset to stay and to work hard for the people of Israel."
Stressing that he was really not offended by the attacks in the press, Hazan noted, "I'm not here by accident. I was elected in the primaries and I've come to serve in the Israeli Knesset."
"The fact that I'm the thirtieth mandate reminds me from where I came," Hazan summed up.