Ex-Israeli defence minister announces challenge to become PM

Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon announced on Thursday that he would seek to become Israel’s next prime minister when elections are held in 2019.

Yaalon made the announcement during his speech at the annual Herzliya security conference. Conference goers reported on Twitter that his announcement was met with applause.

Yaalon resigned as defence minister in May in a protest at what he described as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extremist government”.

At the conference he attacked Netanyahu for trying to "scare" Israeli citizens into ignoring key issues like corruption, the social divisions, income inequality and the high cost of living. 

"The Iranian nuclear programme, which was put on ice following the signed agreement, does not constitute an imminent existential threat to Israel, which is limited during the period of the agreement, and we have to prepare for future events," said Yaalon.

"At this time and in the foreseeable future, there is no existential threat to Israel. It is the strongest state in the region and there is an enormous gap with every country and organisation stationed around it. Therefore, it is appropriate for the leadership in Israel to cease scaring the citizens and to stop telling them that we are on the verge of a second Holocaust."

Yaalon, who before joining politics served as the army's chief of staff, said that it was imperative to "present an alternative to the current leadership – because we have no other country". 

Yaalon was replaced earlier this month by Avigdor Lieberman, of the hard-right Israeli Is Our Home party, who Netanyahu brought into his government, helping to make the current administration the most right-wing in Israel's history. 

"If there is something that deprives me of sleep it is the fissures in Israeli society – the erosion of basic values – the attempt to hurt the Israel Defence Forces in a way that endangers its might," Yaalon said. "Our leadership has become reactive and tempestuous rather than leading here an exemplary society."

The former defence minister said that since resigning he has received thousands of letters from Israeli citizens, including Likud members, asking him to remain in public life.

"There is an aspiration that crosses party lines of the vast and sane majority of the country to see a stately leadership that will lead the country according to a compass or conscience and not according to polls or reactions on social networks," said Yaalon. "A leadership that does not hide behind gatekeepers whose sole job is to guard the remainders of government, thereby weakening the balances and critical breaks to our internal power."

According to reports in Israeli media, Yaalon has received thousands of letters urging him to not quit Israeli politics, and to work to protect the Supreme Court from political attacks.