Miri Regev
Miri RegevFlash 90

MK Miri Regev (Likud) on Friday denied recent reports that opposition leader and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to step down.

"Netanyahu is not going anywhere, he will continue to lead the opposition until we return to power. Netanyahu and his wife were at my place for dinner about a month ago and he repeated several times that he intended to stay," Regev told Channel 12 News in an interview.

She also commented on Netanyahu’s attack this week on MK Yisrael Katz, whom Netanyahu claimed supports the “New Likudniks” faction in order to ensure their support in future primaries.

"Netanyahu is right in saying that we should protect our house and that we must not allow non-Likud forces to become members of the Likud and destroy the Likud from within," Regev explained, denying that Netanyahu’s criticism of Katz stemmed from anger that Katz, who also serves as the chairman of the Likud secretariat, refused to allow security detail for Sara and Yair Netanyahu at the expense of the party.

"Netanyahu issued an orderly statement on behalf of the Likud that he would not ask the Likud to pay for the security of his family, although I think a very great injustice was done to Netanyahu and his sons here. At least they secure Mansour Abbas, with whom Bennett works to keep his seat," she quipped.

Regev also had criticism for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett over his handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

"The ministers themselves are coming out against him. There is a COVID denier whose name is Yifat Shasha-Biton," said Regev of the Education Minister.

“She is harming the national immunization effort and endangers the children of Israel. If his (Bennett) family does not listen to Bennett's recommendations, the public will certainly not listen to him," added Regev, in a reference to the vacation abroad recently taken by Bennett’s wife and children after the Prime Minister called on the public to avoid travelling abroad.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)