Against the backdrop of escalating tensions within the coalition, Knesset Members Meir Porush and Yisroel Eichler of the Agudah faction of UTJ declined both a meeting and a phone conversation with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu after he sought to speak with them over the weekend.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the prime minister’s outreach followed the two lawmakers’ decision last week to abstain from a Knesset vote on the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry headed by MK Ariel Kallner.
Despite repeated efforts by the Prime Minister’s Office to arrange a meeting at Netanyahu’s office, Porush and Eichler turned down the request. They later made clear that they were also not interested in holding a phone call with him.
Until recently, Porush and Eichler were viewed as the more flexible figures within the Agudas Yisrael faction, particularly in comparison to the party’s other representatives, former minister Yitzchak Goldknopf and MK Yaakov Tessler.
{Matzav.com}
