Livni: 'A bad day for Netanyahu, a hopeful day for Israel'

Opposition leader: Kadima calls for elections; MK Schneller: If remaining Labor MKs join party, it will move further to the Left.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Livni close up 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file[)
Livni close up 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file[)
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Monday joined a wave of reactions from Kadima, following the news that Defense Minister Ehud Barak split from the Labor party and formed a new faction called 'Independence' (Atzmaut).
Livni told a Kadima meeting that, "This is a bad day for the Netanyahu government but I believe it's also a hopeful day for Israel."
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She added, "Today, clearer than ever, we've seen which representatives use shady political wielding, and which are our representatives of truth. Netanyahu's government is a narrow government that falls apart from the inside, lacking any other choice, due to political decay and an absence of either a vision or path."
"Today, Kadima again calls out loud, crystal clear and stronger than ever, for elections," Livni added.
"We will continue and work according to our principles, our values, and we will guard and advance our vision, defend democracy and the Israeli public from this awful government," she stated. "This government today needs to return the choice to the people and initiate new elections. This time not only will we win in the elections but we will also lead the next government."
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Also reacting to news, MK Otiel Schneller (Kadima) told The Jerusalem Post that if the remaining Labor MKs decide to join Kadima, it will move the centrist party further to the Left.
He emphasized that such a scenario "would be a shame because Kadima's centrist ideals are what keeps the the party unified."
Kadima MK Shai Hermesh said that "There's no gloating, the house has crashed, the Kibbutz Movement finds itself on the streets."
The MK who himself left the Labor party to join then-new faction Kadima added that Barak's actions "will be remembered for generations as somebody who abandoned the people who brought them the throne."
Kadima MK Orit Zuaretz called Barak's decision "pathetic." She added that the move indicated the end of ideology.
Zuaretz continued slamming Labor and Likud leaders, "The prime minister is stirring in the dark and the Labor movement is revealed as naked spineless, invertebrate mollusks."
"Approaching the Likud line, they [Labor] are splitting off and proving that around [Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu] they are only opportunists that aren't interested in advancing diplomacy and peace processes if it means giving up their positions and salaries in exchange for principles and values."
Kadima MK Yohanan Plessner said "it is a sad day - a day which brought the end of a party that established the state of Israel - and a day in which the political culture in Israel reached a new low of filth and loathing.
"It is now clear that the only legacy of the Netanyahu government is of political dealing and buying fragments of parties at the expense of the national interest," he said.