Livni: New elections are to replace extremist, provocative, paranoid government

The justice minister accused Netanyahu of "inciting sectors in Israel against each other."

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN, YONAH JEREMY BOB
Justice Minister Livni, Finance Minister Lapid attend weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem (photo credit: REUTERS)
Justice Minister Livni, Finance Minister Lapid attend weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Officials in Labor, Yesh Atid, Hatnua, and Kadima intend to meet in upcoming days to begin discussing how best to prevent the reelection of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The leaders of the four parties failed to unite ahead of the January 2013 election and split when Netanyahu formed his government, with Yesh Atid and Hatnua in and Labor and Kadima out. Officials in all four parties have said in recent days that they want to find a way to cooperate better. But Herzog’s spokesman said Tuesday night that there was no news on that front.
Former Labor Party leader Shelly Yacimovich said her decision to keep Labor out of the government was proven correct by the events of the past few days.
She slammed the heads of Yesh Atid and Hatnua for not quitting Netanyahu’s government before he fired them Tuesday.
“I don’t understand why Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni got to the point where they let themselves be humiliated and kicked out of the government, instead of realizing that their being part of the coalition broke promises to their voters,” Yacimovich said.
Hours ahead of her firing, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Tuesday let loose at Netanyahu, saying the impending elections will “not be over zero sales tax,” but on replacing a government she accused of “extremism, provocativeness, and paranoia,” without knowing how to fight terrorism while also “upholding freedom and Zionism.”
Livni, speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies conference, said she was going straight from her speech to meet Netanyahu and that she “refused to compromise on any of the values that have guided me.”
She accused the prime minister of “inciting sectors in Israel against each other,” attacking his proposed law to define the Jewishness of the country as abandoning the idea of balancing Zionism with democratic principles.
Livni said that upholding democratic principles and engaging “those Palestinians who accept a two-state solution and refrain from terrorism” in real peace talks is critical for Israel to gain support for fighting terrorism with all of its might.
“We are clear on how much terrorists take advantage” of using human shields and breaking international law in urban settings, the justice minister said, adding that the state must be “partners with the whole world” in fighting terrorism and should continue to improve the operational and legal tools for dealing with asymmetric war used by terrorists like Hamas.
She also urged the country to avoid falling to a “religious war,” the direction to which terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well as extremists on the Israeli side, wish to drag things.
Livni slammed the world for “hypocrisy” in its equating Israel, “which tries to avoid civilian casualties” and “kills civilians only by mistake”, with Hamas, which “tries to kill civilians on purpose.”
She called on “middle Israel” to change the leadership of the state so it will act with more “statesmanship” so as to better “guard the rule of law and the High Court.” She promised that this is what will happen in the impending elections.


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