Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon continued to react diplomatically on
Wednesday to the decision of his boss, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, to
leave him off their Yisrael Beytenu party’s list for the next
Knesset.
But Ayalon’s father, Rafi, did not hide his disappointment in an
interview with the hosts of the popular “Shai and Dror” radio show.
He
complained that Liberman had sent his son to Siberia and referred to the foreign
minister in a way that was not politically correct.
“He is a little
Stalin,” the elder Ayalon said.
The deputy foreign minister, who will
remain in his post until the January 22 election, declined several opportunities
on Wednesday to take revenge against Liberman.
But he admitted that
Liberman still had not gotten around to telling him why he left him off the
list.
“I can say honestly that I was not insulted by the decision,”
Ayalon said. “I respected the rules of the game on my way into politics and I
respect them on the way out. I will meet [Liberman], talk to him, and
find out the reason.”
Ayalon said he did not believe Liberman’s decision
was tied to a January 2010 incident in which Ayalon was caught on camera
instructing cameraman filming a meeting with the Turkish ambassador to notice
that he had placed him on a low chair and refused to shake his hand in an effort
to scold him.
“I apologized for that and it’s been almost thee years,”
Ayalon said.
He also denied reports that Liberman became angry at him for
telling foreign leaders that he would become foreign minister following a
Liberman indictment. He said he never said such a thing.
Channel 10
reported that Liberman had told officials in closed conversations that he no
longer trusted Ayalon because he thought he leaked information to the
press.
The Likud and Yisrael Beytenu will finalize their joint list on
Thursday, in time to submit it to the Central Elections Committee by the 10 p.m.
deadline. After initial reports about the joint list indicated that there would
be no woman in the top 10, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin of the Likud
volunteered to move from 10th to 11th on the list, so the 10th slot could be
given to Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver of Yisrael Beytenu.