Former Minister Benny Begin, son of Menachem Begin, the first Likud Prime Minister, launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for early elections. In a post on his Facebook page, Begin wrote about a previous conversation between him and Netanyahu. "It was just the two of us in the room, and I turned to my younger friend, Benjamin Netanyahu—'I’m telling you this as a friend, be careful—you’re deteriorating.' That was in May 2016. Just a moment earlier, he had offered me to join his government, and I thanked him for that." Begin explained that back then, nearly a decade ago, "I declined the offer, saying: My shift now is in the Knesset’s Constitution Committee, because the government is about to place bad legislative proposals on the table. Two years prior, I had completed my role as a member of his government after four good years during which we worked together in friendship and trust. I enjoyed working with him and remember it fondly. There is no basis for the media dragging my name into lists of 'Netanyahu’s victims.'" Related articles: America and Britain - blind stupidity? 'Likud has become a predatory and destructive party' Benny Begin: Gantz's plan is similar to Menachem Begin's Benny Begin steps away from politics At the same time, Begin clarified that "I did not foresee the depth of the deterioration. The ongoing, deliberate harm to the Supreme Court and the government’s decision today, during wartime, to dismiss the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, who is faithfully fulfilling her role, testify that this government does not want to govern but to rule—to rule without limits and without wisdom, in a new and dangerous regime whose name is still unknown, but it will not be democracy. One of its hallmarks is accusing opponents of conspiring under the delusional guise of the 'deep state,' something Mr. Netanyahu has recently resorted to as well. This is not how we learned, nor how we acted together not so many years ago." At the end of the post, he wrote, "Given the circumstances unfolding before our eyes, and in light of the deep disputes that have emerged over the past two years, a renewed appeal to the public through early elections is required. This destructive course will be halted with the help of the ballot of the voter that will be cast into the ballot box on the day of public judgment."
