The Likud responded for the first time to claims by Kulanu Chairman Moshe Kahlon that he single-handedly reduced the cost of cellphone service, cable TV, and other basics of modern life during his term as Communications Minister.
In a new video put out by the Likud’s campaign committee Wednesday, Kahlon is seen praising Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, emphasizing his role in reducing the costs of cellular service.
In the video, Kahlon is heard saying, among other things, that reforms in the cellular market could not have been accomplished without Netanyahu’s help and support.
In recent interviews, Kahlon has said that only he had the answers to reduce the price of food, apartments, and other necessities that many Israelis complain are currently too expensive – and that the high prices were the fault of Binyamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, and Yair Lapid.
“We look at results, not talk,” Kahlon said in one recent interview. “They can talk all they want, but with all the talk, has the price of apartments gone down? Have the wage gaps in Israel narrowed? Did the cost of living go down? No; everything is more expensive, and the price keeps rising. Anyone who was a member of this government – including Naftali Bennett – is to blame.”
In its video, the Likud says that any reforms made by Kahlon were done with the full support and backing of Netanyahu, who actively pushed for changes. Without the Prime Minister, the video said, reforms would not have taken place.
“Those successes are ours as much as Kahlon’s,” the Likud said.
Speaking at a recent panel organized by business daily Globes, Likud MK Miri Regev said that “Kahlon’s claim to fame is lowering the prices of cell phone service in Israel when he was Communications Minister by initiating competition in the field, but the credit for that really belongs to Prime Minister Netanyahu,” who pushed through the legislation that forced that competition to take place. “Israel’s economy today is stable, we are not ‘on the brink’ as they are in Russia and most of Europe.”
