Merav Ben Ari
Merav Ben AriHezki Baruch

Former MK Merav Ben Ari on Monday responded to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon's (Likud) announcement that he is leaving politics.

Kahlon, who originally was a member of the Likud, founded the Kulanu party before the 2015 elections and ran with Kulanu in the first round of elections in April of 2019, before merging with the Likud before the September 2019 election.

"He thought about what he could do with four Knesset seats and he decided to switch to the Likud, which is his natural home," Ben Ari told 103 FM Radio. "It's tough to be Finance Minister with four Knesset seats, certainly if you've come from a place of strength."

Ben Ari was a Kulanu MK, and considered to be close to Kahlon.

She also compared Kahlon's decision to "return home" with Labor-Gesher MK Orly Levi-Abekasis' "opportunism." According to Ben Ari, Levi-Abekasis began "opportunistic processes" when she left the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party to become an independent MK, only to found her own party and then join up with the leftist Labor.