According to a report on Channel 12 News, the Yamina party is considering declaring MK Amichai Chikli a defector and ejecting him from the party, following his vote against the state budget, which passed with every single vote of the coalition other than his own.
Yamina has been hesitating regarding such a move for a while already, with some members preferring to leave the door open to Chikli to cooperate with his former colleagues on areas of agreement. However, his vote against the budget appears to have indicated to them that Chikli has no intention of being cooperative, and now there is a preference within the party to taking a strong line with him, which will also serve to signal to any other potential defectors that such actions will not be tolerated.
If Chikli is indeed declared a defector, the move will not be merely symbolic – it will also have the practical effect of barring him from joining any of the existing political parties in the next round of elections. If he wishes to run for the Knesset next time around, he will have to join a newly established party.
Sources within Yamina have said that they have yet to reach a final decision on the question.
Speaking at the end of last week, Chikli himself insisted that there was no way he would support the budget, no matter what he was offered in return.
“And I think that the person who should be declared a defector is Bennett, not me,” he added. “He’s the one who betrayed the trust of the public who voted for him and gave him the seats.”
Responding to the report, MK Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, said, “Chikli is no defector. The only people who betrayed their path, their values, their promises, and their camp are his former partners, those who joined up with Bennett to lie and defraud their voters. And now they are compounding their sins with an attempt to destroy Chikli’s political future.”
“If they had a drop of decency or at least some shame, they would simply release him, and escort him on his way with the respect he deserves. But they are simply petty-minded people, and incapable of looking in the mirror he holds up to their faces, showing them how spineless they are in comparison.
“But it won’t help them,” he added. “They will soon disappear, to go down in the annals of the Jewish People as those who shamefully deserted their ideals; whereas Chikli will remain in the political scene for a long time yet, and will be remembered as a hero.”