Livni denies reports that Zionist Union in talks to join Netanyahu's coalition

Yacimovich criticizes Herzog's "absolute backing" of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran deal.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: JULY 16, 2015 15:46
Tzipi Livni (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Tzipi Livni
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Zionist Union co-leader Tzipi Livni denied reports Thursday that the faction was in talks to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition.
"There are absolutely no talks for the Zionist Union to join the Netanyahu government. There is a gaping chasm between us," Livni said in response to a report in Ha'aretz that President Reuven Rivlin was serving as a mediator between the two sides.
Livni told Israel Radio that she had asked her Zionist Union co-leader Isaac Herzog if there was truth to claims by Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On that, following the Iranian nuclear deal, the Zionist Union would be joining the coalition within two weeks. "He said that the issue had not even come up in the meeting he had Tuesday with Netanyahu," Livni said.
Herzog has joined Netanyahu in calling the Iran deal a "bad deal" in recent days and vowed to do his part to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovich told Army Radio Thursday that she is against joining the coalition. She criticized Herzog for his backing of Netanyahu's narrative on the Iran deal.
"I view with a certain amount of criticism the absolute backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," Yacimovich said. "The one who brought us to the point of such an unprecedented head-on confrontation, is Netanyahu," she added.