MK Milwidsky Scolds Staff Over Primary Election Fallout

A leaked video from an internal meeting shows Israeli lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky of the Likud party expressing frustration with his office staff following the party's primary elections. Milwidsky, who secured a low position on the Likud's Knesset list, complained that his staff had not been responding to him or updating him on his schedule since the primaries.

"Hello everyone, happy new year. It's 8:21 PM, and I still don't know who is with me tomorrow," Milwidsky stated in the video. He added that while he had not burdened his staff since the primaries, they were now unresponsive. "If you don't feel like working and don't feel obligated, fine, let's finish," he said, demanding to know who would accompany him the next day for driving and filming duties. "I'm not breathing down your necks and giving you freedom of action, and you are disrespecting me with a lack of respect I don't deserve."

Milwidsky's spokesperson, Or Yitzchak, commented that the clip was from a private team chat where communication has been ongoing for over four years. She expressed sadness that someone would leak such a video, stating that its release did not negate a full term of work.

Milwidsky himself addressed the leak on X (formerly Twitter), writing that a trusted individual had broken that trust. However, he also described his staff as "good people" and called the leak a "serious error in judgment." He concluded by quoting a verse from the Book of Numbers, in the spirit of the days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur.