Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the Bennett-Lapid government over the high cost of living and the expected surge in fuel prices this week.
At the beginning of the Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu claimed that "since the formation of Bennet and Lapid's government of fraud and extortion, the citizens of Israel are paying more, much more. Citizens pay more in taxes, and they pay much more for everything. In less than a year, fuel prices have soared by 25%."
''This rise is accompanied by a sharp rise in prices in all areas: food prices are rising, the price of fruits and vegetables are rising, the price of bread is rising, mortgages are rising. The government is not doing anything to address the rise in prices and it is not doing anything to address the food crisis that will also befall the State of Israel.
Netanyahu rejected the government's claim that international crisis are driving the rise in prices. "There have always been crisis and there always will be. This is no excuse for inaction. On the contrary - it requires even more vigorous action to get Israel out of the crisis, as we did."
"In 2003 there was a major global economic crisis and we rescued Israel from it. The same was true in 2009. Our government also rescued Israel from this global crisis. The coronavirus was also a global crisis, and we worked hard to bring Israel out of that crisis, the first in the world to do so.
"Our governments have made Israel a world economic power, in part by reducing taxes, lowering prices, and countless reforms to create a free economy.
Netanyahu continued: ''Our responsible economic policy has managed to curb the rise in prices. There was less of a rise in prices in the last seven years of our governments than in under one year of this government. In the nine months of the Bennett-Lapid government, housing prices have risen more than they have in the last four years under our government."
"But instead of fighting to lower prices and lower taxes, the government of weakness and extortion is concerned solely with its survival. Every week, they transfer billions to political blackmailers, supporters of terrorism and haters of Israel. Israeli citizens are forced to pay high taxes in order for the government to pay the Abbas tax, the Tibi tax, the Zoabi tax. And who is left out? The citizens of Israel are left out.
"Israeli citizens pay more at the supermarket, more at gas stations, more for mortgages - so that Bennett and Lapid can keep their jobs and continue to distribute jobs. It is time to send this government home, and return Israel to experienced and responsible hands. It is time to bring back to Israel a true economic leadership that has propelled Israel's economy up and up. A leadership that will lower prices, lower taxes, and return to caring for the well-being and prosperity of all Israeli citizens," Netanyahu said.