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.