Netanyahu in cabinet meeting this morning
Netanyahu in cabinet meeting this morningHezki Baruch

A harsh exchange of words developed Sunday morning at the weekly cabinet meeting in light of the demonstration by residents of Judea and Samaria outside the meeting and the intensification of terrorism in Judea and Samaria.

According to Hadashot 2, the exchange began after the justice minister announced that she was abstaining in the vote to permanently appoint Prime Minister Netanyahu as defense minister. "I will abstain, Bennett should be defense minister," she said.

Minister of Education Naftali Bennett joined in and told Netanyahu, "You cannot be defense minister, the gap in the barrier is not the Supreme Court, it's the IDF."

Prime Minister Netanyahu responded harshly to Bennett's remarks and said, "You are doing a foolish deed. We heard about your ultimatums." Bennett fired back, "It's a shame [you] don’t fight terror like [you] do government ministers.”

At this stage, Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz intervened in the exchange. He said of Netanyahu, "He can be both defense minister and foreign minister."

In response, Minister Shaked attacked Minister Katz and accused him of kowtowing to Netanyahu. "Don’t speak nonsense, you are flattering in order to get the foreign ministry portfolio.”

Minister Elkin also attacked Bennett and told him, "It's a joke to throw the legal responsibility on the prime minister when the justice ministry portfolio is with Ayelet Shaked from your party. You are making the discussion about politics instead of principles. To make a connection to a hole in the wall at Beit El is a joke. It happened when there was a full-time defense minister [Liberman].”