Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid offered backing on Monday to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon for his decision to evict 200 Jews from their recently purchased homes in Hevron on Friday.
The decision prompted the ire of several right-wing MKs, from both the Jewish Home and Ya'alon's own Likud party, who warned they would buck coalition discipline and bring down the government unless the Jews were returned to the buildings.
At his party's faction meeting early Monday afternoon, Lapid accused Ya'alon's critics of contributing to divisiveness within Israel society and said the attacks were a political ploy.
"Instead of uniting, they continue to split apart and add to the divisions," Lapid charged. He also suggested that IDF soldiers were forced to carry out the eviction so they wouldn't have to worry about providing additional security to the residents.
"Between the country and members of the central committee, they choose the central committee," he said of those attacking Ya'alon.
Lapid also announced he would not support Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's so-called Transparency Law despite his own fight against leftist organizations, like Breaking the Silence, and his opposition to foreign involvement in Israeli politics.
"The Swedes and the Danes are invited to remove their hands from Israeli politics," Lapid slammed, adding, though, that "this law is harmful to Israel. This law is harmful to national security."
The bill in question would require Israelis NGOs who receive more than half of their funds from foreign states to disclose their sources of funding and identify themselves as "foreign agents" when lobbying MKs.
"Although leftist organizations annoy me, I will not vote in favor of this bill," Lapid stressed, blasting its supporters for choosing "politics" over "what is good for the State of Israel."