Kahlon indicates comeback with new ‘framework’

Kahlon made the announcement at the Israeli Conference on Medicine in Jerusalem. the event Lapid used to springboard his own political career.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Likud Minister Moshe Kahlon 311 (photo credit: Avi Hayun)
Likud Minister Moshe Kahlon 311
(photo credit: Avi Hayun)
Former welfare and social services minister Moshe Kahlon indicated on Tuesday that he would soon be returning to politics after the current security situation calms down.
Asked Tuesday if he would return to the political arena after he decided in late 2012 to take a break and not run for the 19th Knesset, Kahlon said he had “decided to form a political framework, but definitely not at this time.”
Kahlon made the announcement at the Israeli Conference on Medicine at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, an event that Finance Minister Yair Lapid used as a springboard for his political career two years ago.
Kahlon criticized politicians in general for suffering from “a severe lack of decision- making” and an inability to implement decisions.
“We used to be a small country that did big things,” he said. “Now that the country is larger, the decisions are smaller but we lack the leadership necessary to get things done.”
While Kahlon made a point of saying he was not referring to anyone in particular, members of the audience interpreted it as an attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has tried unsuccessfully to keep Kahlon in the Likud.
“Those who care about how they will look and whether they will survive [politically] won’t accomplish anything,” Kahlon said. “We are suffering from this and it will only get worse if it is not changed soon.”
He called for the government to think ahead to the future and build subways in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba and Jerusalem. He said the latter three cities needed to be built up more because Tel Aviv was overcrowded.
Regarding Operation Protective Edge, Kahlon gave credit for its successes to the IDF and said nothing about the politicians who ran it. He urged politicians to “keep the army out of politics.”