Opposition MKs line up to slam idea of unity government

Several opposition lawmakers on Saturday dismissed the prospect of joining Prime Minister’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, calling the prospect of a unity government everything from “unlikely” to “irrelevant” to “a betrayal.”

MK Eitan Cabel, a key Zionist Union organizer who chairs the Knesset Economy Committee, said he would not join a unity government under the prime minister.

“At this time, the chances of establishing a unity party are unlikely,” he said at a cultural event in Rishon Lezion. “Unless there will be a course to change the face of this county, I will not join, and I believe [Opposition leader and Labor party head Isaac] Herzog wouldn’t join either.”

Cabel, who is seen as a possible challenger to Herzog for the leadership of the Labor party — which, along with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua, makes up the Zionist Union faction — has been adamant in his opposition to a unity coalition with Likud. In an Army Radio interview last week, Cabel denied coalition negotiations were taking place, even though hours earlier the prime minister confirmed the two parties had been in advanced stages of talks.

Yesh Atid MK Yaakov Peri at Saturday’s event also denied his party intended to join a unity government headed by the Likud.

“Joining this [government] is not relevant for us right now. As far as we are concerned, we’re staying in the opposition,” he said.

At another cultural gathering in Givatayim, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said rumors of negotiations between the two sides demonstrated Netanyahu’s misguided “old politics” approach.

“This past week is an excellent example as to why we need a new political reality in Israel: the old political style is only concerned with itself, gaining seats, receiving honors and getting your friends jobs,” Lapid charged. “That’s not what politics is for.”

“When politicians are busy all day long with themselves, they end up betraying their primary role,” he said.

Last week, Netanyahu confirmed rumors that Likud and Zionist Union had been in advanced stages of talks on a new unity government, but those discussions ended after it emerged that Herzog was under investigation for campaign finance issues, Channel 2 reported at the time.

Netanyahu’s government currently has the slimmest possible Knesset majority of just 61 to 59 MKs. The Zionist Union has 24 MKs, of which 19 are members of Labor and five of Hatnua.

Senior Zionist Union members predict the offer to join the coalition will be dropped if an agreement is not reached by the Knesset’s summer session due to begin on May 23.

On Thursday, Herzog sought to dispel rumors of an imminent agreement, and said talk of a breakthrough in negotiations was premature.

Herzog wrote on in a Facebook post that “so far, we have not received a suitable offer — if an appropriate offer is made, we will seriously consider it.”

His own party colleagues, including former Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich and Hatnua head Livni, have criticized Herzog for so much as entertaining the notion of joining the government.

On Thursday, Yachimovich said any offer from Netanyahu should have been rejected out of hand. “This is not a unity government, it is a right-wing government in every way, into which the Labor Party is crawling without any conditions to receive ministries and treats,” she charged.

Livni has emphasized that neither she, nor the four MKs of the Hatnua party which she leads, will agree to join the coalition.