MK Amichai Chikli (Yamina) has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for promising to declare him a defector.
The site quoted Chikli as saying, "I understand that Bennett is stressed, if not in hysterics, and justifiably so. His days as Prime Minister are numbered, and his 'ECMO machine' in the form of [MK] Ahmad Tibi (Joint Arab List) and [MK] Aymen Odeh (Joint Arab List) will also not help him."
"I will proudly come to the discussion about me and as I said, I will continue the path that we promised to our voters - at any price."
Regarding a series of interviews Bennett has conducted recently, Chikli said, "One terror attack follows another, funeral follows funeral, but Bennett is afraid that we will return to the 'dark period' of election campaigns. Get out of the aquarium."
Yamina first weighed declaring Chikli a defector last year, but Chikli eventually backtracked, deciding to vote together with the coalition on a majority of issues. However, following coalition whip MK Idit Silman's (Yamina) decision to bolt the coalition, attention has turned to Chikli, who is seen as potentially willing to leave the current coalition for a new, right-wing coalition.