Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) said on Sunday that his party and the government are making every effort to ensure that the coalition continues to exist due to a fear of a fifth election that will bring Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir to power.
In an interview with the Arabic language Nasradio, Horowitz said nothing good for the country would come from an election and stated that he did not intend to give up on trying to keep the coalition and the government going.
Referring MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of his party, who does not consider herself obliged to vote with the coalition, Horowitz said (without mentioning her name) that Zoabi was not elected on a personal basis but within the party framework, and as such, if she has difficulty voting with the coalition she should resign.
Horowitz noted that the mandate is not Zoabi's private property and that her conduct is improper, undermines public trust and leads to the strengthening of the extreme right and its return to power.
Horowitz said that he met Zoabi a few days ago in his office in the Knesset and that he was in regular contact with her. He added that Meretz has considered declaring Zoabi a “rebel MK” and this issue will be raised at a faction meeting scheduled for Monday.
He blamed Zoabi for the polls predicting a failure for Meretz in the next election, noting that Meretz is an honest and ideological party that has not had defectors in the past.