MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu) announced Wednesday that he is resigning from the Knesset, in a surprise move.

Gal announced that he has told the Knesset Speaker that he is resigning.

“As a person who was an agenda-driven journalist, I was given an opportunity, before the last elections, to try and advance it from inside the Knesset as a part of the Yisrael Beytenu faction. I was pleased with the opportunity and did my best to make the most of it during my term. However, I feel that in the present situation, as a regular opposition MK, I can better bring my abilities to bear as a journalist,” he explained.

Gal’s resignation appears to indicate his displeasure with party leader Avigdor Liberman’s surprising decision not to join the ruling coalition. By remaining in the Opposition, Liberman has rendered the Netanyahu government extremely vulnerable to its left wing opponents.

Next in line on Yisrael Beytenu’s Knesset roster is the former General Director of the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, Attorney Oded Forer. 

Gal, 40, is a veteran journalist who for several years hosted a nightly business news show on Channel 10 and most recently hosted daily shows on Channel 20 and Radio Tel Aviv.

One of his more well-known interviews was an interview with MK Hanin Zoabi on his radio show, in which she said that the Hamas terrorists responsible for kidnapping three Israeli yeshiva students “are not terrorists” and that the kidnapping is a “last resort” for Palestinian Arabs frustrated by their lives. 

He also had harsh criticism for a reported ceasefire deal that was reached between Israel and Hamas at the end of Operation Protective Edge last summer. “If the reports are true (and I hope they are not) – then I am missing just one little thing in the agreement: What we are getting!” Gal wrote on his Facebook page at the time.