Ya’alon: ‘English-speakers’ working to topple PM

Defense minister says Anglos part of ‘unprecedented campaign’ to oust Netanyahu

Times of Israel

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that “English-speakers” in Israel, also known as Anglos, were pushing left-wing and Arab-Israeli voters to turn out en masse on March 17 to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking at the IDC, the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, on Sunday at an elections event, Ya’alon was quoted by Haaretz as saying there was “an unprecedented campaign here to encourage left-wing and Arab voters, and English-speakers are the ones doing it. There are non-profit organizations here that are funded by foreign money – European money and other groups that don’t want to see Netanyahu [in power].”

Ya’alon was echoing a similar line adopted by Netanyahu and the Likud, who for months have claimed that an orchestrated effort to remove the PM from power was underway.

Netanyahu has said there were “very powerful organizations with foreign funding in the tens of millions of shekels, equipped with strategists and advisers, seeking two main objectives: To increase the voter turnout among the Left; and to increase the voter turnout among the Arabs. These are well-funded organizations that can get the Arab [Joint] List up to 16 seats, thereby determining the overall result of the election.”

Last month, the ruling party took aim at the V15 group, which stands for Victory 2015, accusing it of violating election law through its alleged ties with the center-left Zionist Union party. The Likud tried to get the group disqualified, later withdrawing its petition citing lack of evidence.

V15 describes itself on its website as “a supra-party movement that was established by a group of young Israelis along with the announcement of elections” in December of last year. Its aim is to “change the dispiriting reality” in Israel and “take Israel to a new path.”

The Likud had charged that the V15 group “operates with aid from radical leftist groups such as OneVoice and Molad, which are supported by millions of dollars flowing in from Europe, the United States and the New Israel Fund,” and of “intervention by international actors who are interested in deposing Netanyahu.”

In early February, Jewish-American billionaire S. Daniel Abraham acknowledged he supported the movement — which has not been found to violate any law, according to Israel’s State Attorney’s Office — but denied that he funded or supported any specific party or candidate.