MK Danny Danon (Likud) said on Monday that he is convinced that he will be a minister in the next government, despite the differences of opinion between he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu fired Danon from his position as Deputy Defense Minister last summer, during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, after Danon, who was a consistent and sometimes harsh critic of the prime minister’s leadership, strongly criticized the government’s decision to sign a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva on Monday, Danon said that despite these past differences, he has no doubt he will find himself in the Cabinet, given his high ranking on the Likud’s Knesset list.
“As someone who twice finished in the top ten in the Likud and in light of my contribution to the party, I am sure that I will fulfill an important role in the government. Personally I am aiming towards a socio-economic position that will bring new hope to the weaker sectors of society. The Likud needs to go back to being the Likud of old, the socially-oriented Likud,” he said.
Danon admitted that it is “not an easy task” to put together a government with so many parties demanding senior ministerial portfolios, but added that he believes that “we need to maintain the interests of the Likud and ensure that the socially-oriented ministerial portfolios remain in the hands of the Likud.”
“The public wants to see us leading a social change and in order to make this happen, portfolios such as health, welfare, and housing must be kept in our hands and we must not engage only in security issues,” he said, echoing comments made Sunday by MK Miri Regev.
Asked whether he thinks Netanyahu would prefer others in the Cabinet over a perceived “troublemaker” like him, Danon replied, “The prime minister appreciates my insistence on my views. I represent the positions of the public and not just those of the Likud. We saw that his views are close to the positions I presented over the years, so we are working in full cooperation. We proved it in the last elections.”
“The beauty in our relationship is that there is no going behind each other’s back,” he continued. “If I agree on something I say so and if I disagree I say so as well. We don’t agree on absolutely everything, just as I don’t agree on everything with my wife either.”
