Israeli Environmental Minister resigns amid fight with Netanyahu

Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz resigned with a bang Sunday, arguing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting.

The morning after Peretz told Channel 2's Meet the Press his intentions, Peretz officially informed Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, the leader of his current party Hatnua, that he is leaving, but he plans to remain in the party and the coalition.

At the opening of the cabinet meeting Netanyahu said to Peretz: "Thank you for realizing your place is not at the cabinet table.

"You think 'if you did not evacuate [settlements] you didn't do anything.' You think the only initiative is to jump off a cliff and give up," the prime minister said. "We are at the height of an incitement campaign by radical Islamists, who not only deny our right to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, but to our existence as individuals."

According to Netanyahu, ministers should unite to fight these phenomena.

Peretz, who was defense minister during the Second Lebanon War, said "I fought terrorism determinedly, no less than you did, against Hezbollah and Hamas, and I believed in and worked on a diplomatic process as part of my understanding of Israeli security."

The departing minister added that there have been problems in all areas – diplomatic, social and economic – but Netanyahu looked for people on whom to blame them, rather than solutions.

"The prime minister's job is to be above political needs and show responsibility toward he citizens of Israel."

Peretz is known for his left-wing stances on socioeconomic matters and was the only minister to vote against the 2015 budget. However, if he remained minister, he would not have been able to vote against the budget as it was approved as government policy.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) said that Peretz' resignation marks the beginning of the end of the Netanyahu government.

"It's clear to all that the gong was sounded. Peretz's place, like all of Hatnua, is in the center-left camp, which Labor will lead in the next election and replace the government," he stated.

Whether Peretz's resignation will cause a domino effect remains to be seen, but Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri of Yesh Atid said his party needs to reexamine whether it will stay in the coalition.

"Benjamin Netanyahu is moving to the Right, apparently because of considerations within his party," Peri told Army Radio. "In the coming weeks, we will undoubtedly have to watch where the wind blows and where things are going."