By ISRAEL HAYOM—
Over the last two days, since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni from the coalition, the center-left parties have been talking about joining forces in efforts to unseat the incumbent prime minister in the upcoming early elections, set for March 17, 2015. In response, Likud officials have said that this proves that “the left-wing parties’ only objective is to replace Netanyahu.”
The center-left bloc being discussed would include Labor, Yesh Atid, Hatnuah and Meretz. So far there has been no talk of a joint center-left Knesset list, only of a pact to jointly refuse to join a coalition led by Netanyahu, making Netanyahu’s task of assembling a coalition very difficult, perhaps impossible.
“The nationalist camp, which wants to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue to lead the state, needs to vote for Likud and give Netanyahu a lot of seats and the power to rule,” Likud officials went on to say.
On Wednesday, a day after Netanyahu leveled harsh public criticism at him, Lapid called his own press conference and lashed out at Netanyahu. “The prime minister called a panicked, haunted press conference, which focused mainly on personal insults,” Lapid told reporters.
“I want to address the prime minister from here: Yesterday, you stood before the entire nation and announced that you are dragging the State of Israel into completely unnecessary elections, which no one wanted but you. Why? Because you have lost touch. You have no idea what this is doing to the people of Israel because you live in your own little aquarium, and you no longer know the people or what is truly on their minds.”
“You can’t feed me your tall tales, Mr. Prime Minister, not after two years of having served in the coalition, in the cabinet and in the most sensitive forums. Again and again we were all shocked to learn just how out of touch you are, and how self involved you are,” he continued.
“You made political deals with the haredim (ultra-Orthodox parties) because you are so out of touch that you don’t understand what that does to the Israeli public. To do all that, and then whine about an attempted putsch that never actually happened, is beyond being out of touch; it is to live in an imaginary world. You claim that I tried to enact a putsch against you? Do you hear yourself? Who fed you this nonsense? What made you listen to it?” Lapid wondered.
When asked by reporters, Lapid refused to declare that he will not join a Netanyahu-led coalition in the future, saying “Netanyahu will not assemble the next coalition. He made a mistake, and the price he will pay is that he will not be the next prime minister.”
Following Lapid’s remarks, Likud issued a response stating that “the panic that has taken hold of the failed finance minister doesn’t change the fact that the current elections are about only one thing: who will be the next prime minister to lead the state. The public knows that there is only one man capable of leading the state in the face of its many challenges — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Meanwhile Wednesday, members of Yesh Atid, fearing that they will not be reelected, accused their own party leaders, Lapid and faction chairman MK Ofer Shelah, of being responsible for the early elections currently underway.
“Shelah advised Lapid to bring about early elections so that he could be appointed minister in the next term,” one Yesh Atid member said. In addition, party members accused one of the party’s ministers of leaking unflattering remarks about Lapid. According to them, the minister voiced concerns that Lapid was planning to remove him from the party list.