Shas chairman Minister Aryeh Deri said on Tuesday evening that he had given up on mediating between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz after the inquiry committee to probe the submarine affair was established.
"As soon as Gantz announced the establishment of the submarine investigation committee, I gave up trying to mediate between the parties. They are shedding the blood of a Prime Minister for the purpose of an election campaign," Deri said in an interview with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio).
Commenting on the allegations that the government is dysfunctional, Deri said, "Gantz himself knows that it is possible to work together even within this government. We have never made any decision without him."
As for the timing, he wondered, "We can go to elections in February, what is this recklessness of doing it now? What is this little political game? It's pettiness."
"The pressure from his party members will cause Benny Gantz to act against his interests. He is a person for whom Israel is very important and he knows what situation we are in, facing a third lockdown. I think he can no longer withstand the pressure," continued Deri.
On the prospect of mending the rift with MK Avigdor Liberman he said that "he has taken the tension very far, not just politically. It hurts me personally when someone speaks against Judaism and the public I represent. Maybe after the election, when they see that the right-wing bloc gets 61 seats without them, he will understand where he is - and then we will see."
Deri also commented on his relationship with Naftali Bennett, saying, "Bennett wants to be Prime Minister, he says so openly. I define Bennett as my friend because he is really a friend to me, only I remind him that in 2013 he did not make sure we got into the government, he left us out. On the other hand, we pressured him to enter, I remind you that I am the one who agreed to give up on another Shas minister so that Bennett would enter."