Setback for Netanyahu as another minister resigns

Jerusalem, May 27 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today suffered a setback after a second cabinet minister resigned today in a week, accusing him of pushing the country towards ‘extremism’.

Warning Netanyahu to "wake up before it's too late", Environment Minister Avi Gabbay said that he found it difficult to remain part of a government that undermined the ties with the US, broadened the rift within Israeli society and tried to silence critical voices.

The straw that broke the camel's back and finally led him to resign, he said, was the 'dismissal' of Moshe Yaalon as defence minister and his replacement with ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman.

Netanyahu signed up Lieberman as the new defence minister in a pact reinforcing his coalition to six parties with control over 66 of parliament's 120 seats, up from a razor-thin majority of 61.

Gabbay accused the government of trying to weaken public service and bar officials and military officers from publically expressing their opinion. He cited the dismissal of the Electricity Authority chief, who was critical of the gas deal, and the backlash against Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan's Holocaust Day remarks as examples. —  PTI