Former Israeli defence minister eyes prime minister’s job

Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon announced on Thursday that he is likely to run for prime minister in the next general election, Quds Press has reported. He revealed his intention in a speech at the annual security conference in the coastal city of Herzliya.

This is the second time that Ya’alon has said that he is going to return to political life by running for the country’s leadership. It was also mentioned in his resignation letter.

Meanwhile, he criticised his former boss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has always viewed him as a rival for the leadership of the Likud Party. According to Ya’alon, his resignation showed that there is a difference between Netanyahu and him.

“The last few months have highlighted the differences in perception that have emerged between the prime minister and myself,” he explained. “If there is anything that makes me lose sleep, it is not the weapons convoys from Syria and Lebanon or Iran’s attempts to direct terrorism because Israel is able to deal with these issues with power and ingenuity. If anything keeps me up at night, it is the rifts in society, the eating away at basic values, the attempt to undermine the army’s soldiers and commanders.”

Ya’alon mentioned that Netanyahu was angry with him after the former defence minister defended Israel’s Deputy Military Chief of Staff, Yair Golan, who compared some aspects of Israeli society with Germany prior to the Holocaust.