Histadrut chair denounces Bennett’s comparing trade union to Hamas

On Facebook, Bennett repeated his familiar line that Netanyahu would not be sufficiently right-wing without the right-wing religious parties at his side in government.

By JEREMY SHARON, EYTAN HALON, GIL HOFFMAN
Israeli minister of Defense Naftali Bennett speaks at the 17th annual Jerusalem Conference of the 'Besheva' group, on February 24, 2020 (photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Israeli minister of Defense Naftali Bennett speaks at the 17th annual Jerusalem Conference of the 'Besheva' group, on February 24, 2020
(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Naftali Bennett set off a firestorm of protest on Thursday after he seemingly compared the Histadrut trade union organization to the terror group Hamas.
In a Facebook post strongly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bennett railed at the prime minister’s treatment of the right-wing religious parties, arguing that they had always been loyal to him even when they disagreed on policy with him.
And Bennett repeated his familiar line that Netanyahu would not be sufficiently right-wing without the right-wing religious parties at his side in government.
“When he doesn’t have a strong national spine then bad things happen, territory is give away, he capitulates to the justice system, he abandons the Negev to illegal Bedouin construction, he the appointment of hundreds of activist judges, weakness in the face of Hamas, weakness in the face of the Histadrut, capitulation in the face of illegal infiltrators,” and more,” wrote Bennett.
Histadrut labor federation chairman Arnon Bar-David reacted angrily to the outgoing defense minister’s comments.
In a strongly-worded letter to Bennett, Bar-David condemned Bennett's comparison between "an organization that founded the State of Israel and a terror organization of murderers."
Describing his statement as "wretched and oozing hatred and incitement," Bar-David demanded an apology to all Israeli citizens.
"Over a million workers in the State of Israel who lost their livelihoods in a single moment are now sitting at home and looking up to decision-makers," Bar-David wrote. "Instead of demonstrating responsibility and working towards mutual solidarity, you are busy settling scores.”
The Likud responded that if Bennett would have received the Health portfolio as he had wished, he would have called it "a dream government for the Right."
Netanyahu's party said Bennett preferred to throw his party's mandates to the opposition instead of joining a government that will apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.
"The Bennett era is over," the Likud statement concluded.