Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter admitted for the first time, in an interview which aired on Channel 12 News on Thursday, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered him the role of Defense Minister.
The offer came on the night that Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in response to him publicly calling for the legislative process of the judicial reform to be paused in order to allow for negotiations.
A number of Likud officials then attempted to negotiate a compromise between Netanyahu and Gallant and the Defense Minister ultimately was not dismissed.
"To become the Minister of Defense I only had to say one word - 'yes,'" said Dichter in Thursday’s interview. "I've been a friend of Gallant for many, many years, we've known each other since his time in the army. Since I didn't say yes, I'm not the Minister of Defense."
He later denied the latest reports that he supports the judicial reform to prepare the ground for being appointed to the position of Minister of Defense and said, "I have heard many things about myself, in life you have to decide whether to be moved by disinformation or fake news, or to move on."
Dichter was asked if, in his opinion Gallant, would have found himself outside politics if Dichter had agreed to be appointed in his place and replied, "I told you in the clearest way. That was the only word that separated me from the post of Minister of Defense."