A day after Kadima and Labor officials initialed a coalition agreement, Shas officials warned Kadima leader Tzipi Livni Tuesday night that the deal would distance Shas from joining her new government.
Shas chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
Sources in Shas expressed outrage at the veto power granted to Barak on legislation and the government's agenda. They also were upset at a clause in the agreement that made the Labor deal supersede those signed with other parties.
"Labor's coalition deal allows Barak to force his viewpoint on the government and to paralyze the cabinet if he does not get his way," a source close to Shas chairman Eli Yishai said. "This is unacceptable to Shas and takes us one step further away from joining the government."
A source close to Livni said, "We don't want to start a war with Shas" and that Kadima expects the problem to be resolved in coalition talks with the party.
Livni only has until Monday to present her new government or she will have to ask President Shimon Peres for a two-week extension. Livni's associates said it was unlikely that she would finalize her government by Monday's deadline.
"If things run smoothly with Shas, we could finalize the government in an hour, but we expect there will be problems along the way," a Kadima official close to Livni said.
Livni called Yishai before Succot began on Monday and stressed how important it was for her that Shas be in her government, but no date for further coalition talks with Shas had been set by press time.
She also called representatives of the Pensioners Party, Meretz and United Torah Judaism.
Shas officials stressed that their demand for a hefty increase in child allowances had not changed, and that it did not matter to the party whether the prime minister who granted their request was Livni, or Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu after a general election.
Netanyahu met with Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef at the rabbi's home in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood on Monday morning in an effort to dissuade Shas from joining a coalition under Livni. The meeting was the second between the two since Livni was chosen to lead Kadima on September 17.
"At this time we need a government that will bolster Israel's economy and protect Jerusalem," Netanyahu told the rabbi. "Obviously, this government cannot do that, and therefore there must be an election."
Livni's associates blasted Netanyahu for trying to torpedo a deal between Kadima and Shas.
"On the one hand, Netanyahu says we need stability due to the economic crisis, but his other hand is engaging in petty politics and pushing the country toward an unnecessary election," said Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner, who is close to Livni.
Two weeks ago, Kadima negotiators offered Shas NIS 400 million for child welfare allotments that would be called a family grant, but Shas rejected the offer and asked for more money. No negotiations have been held with the party since then.
Shas representatives told their counterparts in Kadima that the party opposed any negotiations on Jerusalem in any way, shape or form, and would not sit in a government that had on its agenda diplomatic talks on Jerusalem.
They also expressed opposition to Meretz joining the government.
Kadima MK Ze'ev Elkin said that several Kadima MKs would also oppose the formation of a narrow government with Labor, Meretz and the Pensioners Party and without Shas. He said the Kadima MKs would block such a government from being formed even if it meant initiating a general election.
"If Livni forms a government with only the Left, it will have no right to exist," Elkin said. "Either she forms a balanced government or there will be an election."
Pensioners Party chairman Rafi Eitan met on Tuesday for the frst time in several months with MK Moshe Sharoni, who heads the Justice for Pensioners faction that broke off from Eitan's party. The two discussed the possibility of serving in the same cabinet, which Eitan has ruled out.
