Yair Shamir, who is running for the Knesset in the number four spot on the Likud Beytenu list, angered members of his party on Friday after he publicly criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Shamir, the son of former Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir, criticized Netanyahu for saying he supports a Palestinian state during the Bar Ilan speech in 2009.
“Netanyahu is zigzagging because he wants to please his voters,” Shamir said during a political panel in Or Yehuda.
“The two-state solution is not in the Likud platform,” said Shamir, whose father was known for his dislike and criticism of Netanyahu. “He made the Bar-Ilan speech that was not approved by the Likud’s institutions nor by the Israeli government at that time.”
The remarks caused anger among members of the Likud, who accused Shamir of “carrying out a terrorist attack on the Likud Beytenu campaign.”
“There are things that one does not say three weeks before the election, even if one thinks like that,” said Likud officials on Friday. “Yair Shamir is a political novice and has a big mouth, but it is not right to behave this way during an election campaign.”
Shamir later issued an apology, saying, “I apologize. My words were misunderstood. I respect the Prime Minister and as I said today, he is a gifted and brilliant man and I have no doubt that he will form the next government.”
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{Matzav.com}
Party platforms are meaningless, and candidates are not bound by them. Netanyahu has been very explicit in his support for a Palestinian State. Similarly, Mitt Romney disavowed the abortion plank in the Republican platform this past year