Hours after he was fired as communications minister, Yoaz Hendel was interviewed on the Channel 12 News main edition, and said he understands why Benny Gantz decided to remove him from office.
"The coalition is not functioning, I accept that Gantz decided to fire us," Hendel said, emphasizing that after the next election he will not agree to join a Netanyahu-led government. "We gave Netanyahu one chance - we won't give him another. It's time to replace him."
Minister of Defense and Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz this evening (Monday) informed the Minister of Communications, Yoaz Hendel, of the termination of his position in the government, and began the process of removing Zvi Hauser, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Gantz said that "Hauser and Hendel chose their new political home and thus ended their career as Blue and White officials."
Blue and White Chairman Gantz decided to fire Hauser and Hendel after the two announced joining former MK Gideon Sa'ar's party. The two will continue serving as Knesset members if they do not resign. The Communications portfolio will be transferred from Hendel to Defense Minister Gantz.
Hendel said goodbye to members of Blue and White in their joint WhatsApp group: "Sometimes politics leads to all sorts of situations but I wanted to say a few personal words. I had the pleasure of being with you in one group despite the disagreements. I really appreciate this group and its people. I know everyone came from a good place. Thanks Benny for the personal example, statesmanship, and love of man."
"Our path is diverging politically, but we hope to be able to remain friends and do good for the State of Israel in the future," concluded Hendel.
Last Wednesday, Hendel and Hauser announced that they would support Sa'ar's candidacy for prime minister. "In the upcoming elections, Derech Eretz will join Gideon Sa'ar's movement. It is the exact home of all the hundreds of thousands of Right-leaning, statist supporters like us who are now looking for a worthy home. We need an alternative to Netanyahu," Hendel said at the time.
"The State of Israel is in an ongoing managerial crisis, two years of political chaos that stems solely from Netanyahu's decision to put his personal good before the good of the State," he added.
He said, "I did everything I could to form a stable unity government, we compromised, we hoped, but Netanyahu did not take this opportunity to get off the stage of history properly. There is no room for further compromises."
"To be Right-leaning is not to be a Bibist and determine what is good for the leader, but on the contrary - to decide according to ideology. The Likud has been confused in recent years. Gideon Sa'ar is not," Hendel concluded.
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Zvi Hauser, criticized the prime minister: "In the last two years, since I was elected to the Knesset, I have done my best to try to bring unity to Israel, I have done so even at the cost of not-simple compromises."
"Yoaz and I, seeing before our eyes a fragmented and disintegrating society, worked to prevent a minority government with the support of the Joint Arab List that would have further shattered cohesion, and we consciously preferred to give a unity government a chance. But Netanyahu chose to continue to divide Israel precisely in a time of unbearable crisis. Unfortunately, this government has failed in its role."
According to Hauser, "At the point where we are now, it is absolutely clear that an alternative to Netanyahu will arise only from the Right. There is only one person who is suitable for this task, I know him, from political and ideological activity for 37 years. Even before the military, at university, and in public positions."
"From a close personal acquaintance with all the candidates for prime minister, I can wholeheartedly state that Gideon Sa'ar is the most suitable man for prime minister. Where I recognize recklessness and frenzy in others, I recognize in him composure, discretion, and responsibility. He is the only man in this difficult time, can unite the people of Israel around him, and ensure experienced state leadership that we so desperately need."
MK Hauser added: "In recent years there have been those who have tried to change the face of the national camp. I know that tens of thousands still vote 'Likud' and 'Yamina'; they do so while gritting their teeth with a grimace, and a feeling that 'there's no other choice'. My friends, today for the first time you have a choice. You and all supporters of the national camp have an alternative."
"I know, they'll insult you, they will slander you, but you know the truth and we know it: You love the State of Israel; You are the real, value-based, ideological Right; today, at last, you have a home again."