Mofaz, Yacimovich call for early general elections

Opposition leader says that Netanyahu's days are numbered, the government must make efforts to quickly reach a date for elections or Kadima will facilitate a bill to dissolve the Knesset.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Shaul Mofaz 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Shaul Mofaz 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Newly-elected opposition leader Shaul Mofaz on Saturday urged the government to hold general elections as soon as possible, saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's days are numbered.
"The upcoming elections will be about Israel's character and future," Mofaz wrote on his Facebook page. "Citizens of Israel will be faced with the decision between the continuity of the current government's inflexibility, indifference and extremity, and a state of hope."
"I call for the general elections to be held at the first possible date, immediately after the holidays, on Tuesday October 16th," he said.
"It is the government's duty to begin efforts to quickly reach an agreed-upon date for general elections," Mofaz continued, saying that if this is not done, Kadima will facilitate a bill to dissolve the Knesset, as soon as next week.
"Netanyahu failed in his position, and it is time to restore hope to Israel," the opposition leader stated.
Both Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich and  Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On referred to the same proposal on Saturday, with Gal-On saying that her party would put the bill forward for first vote on Wednesday, while Yacimovich said that Labor would do so at some point in the next three weeks.
"Netanyahu's awful government should go home," Gal-On said. "Meretz wants to dismantle the government, not in order to join it, but to replace it with another government that will be better for the state of Israel."
Echoing Gal-On's sentiment, Yacimovich said in an interview with Army Radio that Labor's objective is to overthrow Netanyahu's government. She expressed hope that the opposition would unite to ensure the advance of the elections.
"Labor is ready for the elections," Yacimovich affirmed, saying that in terms of the party's internal organization and ideology, it is prepared.