Hebrew daily "Yediot Ahronot" reports that several senior Likud officials are calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz in response to the rising wave of social protests. The officials say that Steinitz is the source of many socioeconomic problems, and is harming the government and the Likud.
Officials at the Prime Minister's Bureau are saying tensions between Netanyahu and Steinitz have reached a peak. "If Netanyahu could replace him, he would have already done so," said an official. "Netanyahu doesn’t like Steinitz's conduct because he doesn’t offer solutions to the problems that come up every morning, but Netanyahu won't replace Steinitz to avoid admitting failure."
The sources suggest three possible alternatives to Steinitz: Minister of Education Gideon Saar, Minister of Transport Israel Katz, and Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon.
In response to the report, Prime Minister's Bureau officials said that Netanyahu has full confidence in Steinitz and that they closely cooperate. Steinitz's office said in response that the story was baseless.
Last week, "Globes" reported an unprecedented crisis of confidence between Netanyahu and Steinitz over Steinitz's remarks at a Likud party convention, in which he bragged that Netanyahu implemented his programs. "Yediot Ahronot's" website publish a transcript of the remarks, in which Steinitz claimed sole credit for the biennial budget and the separation fence between Israel and Egypt. The remarks infuriated top Likud officials.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 24, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011