PM is more preoccupied with cabinet than citizens — Herzog

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) strongly criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, arguing the latter “is more preoccupied with the shaky relationship with his cabinet, than with providing solutions for the Israeli public.”

Herzog’s comments come shortly after the prime minister publicly reprimands his ministers during a press conference, saying he expected them to “behave responsibly.”

Israel Labor party Leader Isaac Herzog speaks during a Labor party meeting in the Israeli parliament on July 28, 2014. (photo credit: Flash90)

“In the cabinet, everything can be discussed, and I certainly permit raising any issue,” Netanyahu says.

“But outside — you have to provide support and talk less.”

In response, Herzog says: “The public received a bleak picture of a government which is incapable of acting with a joint responsibility, even during wartime and this [constitutes] strategic damage to the security of the state of Israel.”

The opposition leader says there is “no hope for a deal” in the prime minister’s words, and “nothing new.”

“This is the same government which failed in its talks with the PA,” he says, and calls for an internationally-backed diplomatic resolution that would “choke Hamas and its supporters.”