Opposition leader Tzipi Livni fiercely criticized the government at a meeting of
her Kadima faction at the Knesset on Monday, accusing Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak of causing the state irrevocable
harm.
Livni, who has had informal discussions with Netanyahu about the
possibility of eventually entering the coalition, made clear on Monday that she
was far from forming a national-unity government with Likud and
Labor.
“Bibi and Barak are destroying the country,” Livni told Kadima’s
MKs.
“They are going from one crisis to another and leading Israel to one
of the worst situations in its history. Israel has a problem not because
of the
perception that the entire world is against us, but because of the
government’s
problematic policies.”
Livni made the comments at the request of MK
Ya’acov Edri, who complained that Kadima lawmakers had given a false
impression
that the party wanted to join the coalition at any price. MK Nachman
Shai, for
instance, spoke about an urgent need for Kadima to join the coalition in
a
speech on Saturday in Holon.
“We need different policies, supported by a
different coalition,” Livni said.
“It is not happening because Netanyahu
does not want to change his ways or his government but only to survive.
Clearly,
the solution is not to save this government but to replace it and save
the
country.”
Likud MK Ophir Akunis, who heads the party’s response team,
said in response that “it is unfortunate that Ms.
Livni is stooping to
hysteria rather than keeping her cool and displaying leadership.”
Livni
was the last person who could scold Netanyahu, Akunis said, because “she
was a
minister for 10 years and she cannot point to a single
accomplishment.”
He added that the governments Livni was a part of
brought Israel’s security to a nadir and the left the economy on the
verge of
collapse, and that she left herself susceptible to the attacks of the
UN’s
Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead.
Labor chairman Ehud Barak
rejected a request by his predecessor, MK Amir Peretz, on Monday to give
Netanyahu an ultimatum that if he did not bring Kadima into the
government,
Labor would bolt the coalition.
“This is not the appropriate time for
ultimatums,” Barak said.
When Peretz interrupted Barak and asked him when
the appropriate time would be, Barak ignored him.