Herzog eyes coalition in bid that could split Zionist Union
For now, and amid seething criticism in his party, opposition leader said to be unsatisfied with terms offered by Netanyahu
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Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog on Tuesday met with his number two partner in the Zionist Union, Tzipi Livni, to update her on his negotiations to join the governing coalition. Such a move threatens to split the parliamentary faction as Livni has vowed to stay out of the government.
Herzog recently held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on entering the government, and sources say the Zionist Union leader is keen to make the move. However, Netanyahu reportedly has not offered Herzog enough to satisfy his demands for significant positions in the cabinet.
Livni has made it clear to Herzog that if he agrees to join the government, it will tear apart the center-left Zionist Union faction — a political alliance of Herzog’s Labor Party and Livni’s Hatnua party formed before the 2015 elections. She emphasized that neither she, nor the four MKs of the Hatuna party which she leads, will agree to join the coalition.
“We have a historic role at this time, to fight for Israel’s values in the face of the racism and hatred that have reared their heads in the absence of leadership,” Livni declared Tuesday in a letter to supporters before her meeting with Herzog.
The Likud party publicly denied claims Tuesday that Herzog had reached a deal to join the coalition.
“The reports that an agreement has been reached between Prime Minister Netanyahu and MK Herzog on joining the government are not correct,” the party said in a statement.
MK Shelly Yachimovich, second on Labor’s list, has also come out firmly against entering the coalition, as have others in the party.
Another Labor MK, Mickey Rosenthal, accused Herzog of selling out the party “at wholesale [prices].”
“Even if the negotiations fail and the Labor Party doesn’t join [Netanyahu’s government], Herzog has already caused damage with the talks,” he tweeted. “The legitimacy he gave Netanyahu’s government has undermined, to a large degree, our ability to criticize it in the future.”
MK Ksenia Svetlova, of Hatnua, tweeted that Zionist Union wouldn’t serve as a “fig leaf in this extremist government.”
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.
Herzog is expected to make a decision in the coming days; with the Knesset’s summer session due to begin on May 23, Netanyahu would seek to present any changes in the government to lawmakers near the beginning of the term.
Senior Zionist Union members predict the offer to join the coalition will be dropped if an agreement is not reached by then.
The Times of Israel Community.