Livni accuses Netanyahu of scheming against ministers

With the fate of the coalition in the balance, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of brokering backroom deals with various Knesset members ahead of possible elections.

“Netanyahu is negotiating behind the backs of his ministers,” the justice minister was quoted by Israel Radio as saying.

The prime minister’s five-party governing coalition, which includes Livni’s Hatnua party, has been teetering on the brink of collapse amid bitter differences over next year’s budget and the controversial “Jewish state” bill.

The bill, which would enshrine Israel’s character as a Jewish state among the country’s Basic Laws — its de facto constitution — has come under harsh criticism from Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party, both of whom have insisted that they will break ranks with the coalition and vote against the bill should it be brought to the plenum in its current form.

“We need to generate an alternative that the public will follow,” Livini said, adding that she would support any new leadership that would inspire “hope for change and possibility.”

Netanyahu told ministers in a cabinet meeting on Sunday that the government couldn’t continue to function without a resolution of the differences among ministers on such issues as the budget and the “Jewish state” bill. It was a thinly veiled threat to dissolve the coalition and call new elections.

Critics say the “Jewish state” bill is undemocratic and will make Israel’s Arab and other minority populations second-class citizens.

Despite the criticism, Netanyahu has vowed to push the measure through, saying that it would guarantee equal rights for all of the country’s citizens and put Israel’s democratic and Jewish aspects on equal footing.

The bill, which was originally due to be voted on last week, has been rewritten several times and met with a number of setbacks and delays.

At a cabinet debate on the bill last week, Livni accused Netanyahu of backing the legislation with the intention of prying apart the coalition and calling elections.

Although Labor Party MK and opposition leader Issac Herzog asserted Saturday he could form a center-left coalition in the aftermath of potential elections, polls suggest that Netanyahu could form a government with the increasingly popular nationalist Jewish Home party, the religious Shas party and other right-wing political parties.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.