Kadima MK Meir Sheetrit referred to as "pathetic," party leader Shaul
Mofaz's failure to leave the coalition of Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu in response to the government's refusal to implement Kadima's
recommendations on drafting a universal service bill.
Mofaz has
threatened to leave the coalition several times since Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu ruled to disband the Keshev Committee, led by Kadima
MK Yochanan Plesner last month. The Keshev Committee was implemented to
formulate a law by which haredim would be forced to serve in the IDF or
perform national service.
Sheetrit told Army Radio on Tuesday
that "Mofaz should have quit the Netanyahu government the day he
dissolved the Plesner Committee and showed that he has no intention of
passing a law on the issue."
The MK added: "The right step as far
as Kadima is concerned is to leave the government - the coalition
failed in the first test it faced."
He added that he had been
against Kadima joining the coalition in the first place. "I thought it
was a bad idea, because I believed that the documents signed with
Netanyahu were worthless and I said so the night the coalition agreement
was signed."
Sources close to Mofaz said Monday
that the vice premier will remove his party from Netanyahu’s coalition
as early as Tuesday if gaps between Likud and Kadima on how to equalize
the burden of IDF service are not bridged.
Lawyers representing
Likud and Kadima spoke on the phone multiple times on Monday but did not
meet or report any significant progress. The Kadima faction is scheduled
to convene on Tuesday at 5 p.m. after Mofaz delayed its regular Monday meeting
because he did not want to make a major political announcement during
the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“If nothing
happens [to end the conflict with Likud], I believe it is a correct
conclusion [that Mofaz would seriously consider quitting on Tuesday],” a
source close to Mofaz said. “It is not an ultimatum. It is due to the
fact that there is no progress.”
Mofaz’s associates bashed
Netanyahu for expressing optimism at Monday’s Likud faction meeting that
an agreement with Kadima could soon be reached.
“I don’t know
where his optimism comes from,” a Mofaz associate said. “Optimism has to
be based on something concrete. No headway has been made.”
At
the Likud meeting, Netanyahu denied reports quoting officials in his
office saying that when the Knesset returns from its summer recess, the
prime minister would initiate an election that would be held at the
beginning of 2013.