30 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked was heard in leaked recordings stating that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will not grant the prime minister's position to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, as stipulated by the coalition agreement.
Shaked spoke about the coalition partners, Lapid and Defence Minister Benny Gantz, describing the former as "shallow" and the latter as "worse than Lapid".
"Every week Lapid drops a bomb and Naftali comes to the rescue. Every week and no one knows,"
Shaked said in one of the recordings aired by Israeli Channel 12 on Wednesday.
Shaked also stated: "He did this like three times, with the Jordanians, with the Americans… and Naftali came to the rescue, unequivocally."
In the second recording, Shaked can be heard calling Lapid "shallow", The Times of Israel reported, claiming that Bennett constantly has to clean up after him.
Regarding Gantz, she said that he was "even worse than Lapid" and that Bennett will not honour the rotation agreement with him.
Later on, it was reported that Shaked apologised for her comments.
The Times of Israel reported that Shaked said she had made the statements in anger after a minister made anonymous comments against her to the press earlier this month, attacking her for saying she doesn't support a two-state solution during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, Bennett was reported stating in a closed meeting that: "The partnership with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is based on mutual trust and fairness."
For his part, Lapid stated: "They will not distract me with leaks and recordings that are only meant to harm [our partnership]. They will not spoil the good atmosphere in the government. We will continue to work well together for the State of Israel."
