Opposition chief: We’d consider joining coalition if Jewish Home left

Despite being spurned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Avigdor Liberman and his Yisrael Beytenu party, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog said Saturday that there was still a chance his center-left opposition party would join the government.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called on Zionist Union to join the coalition. Coalition talks between Likud and Zionist Union collapsed in mid-May, with each side blaming their failure on the other, as Netanyahu cemented a coalition deal with Liberman to have his five-seat party join. Liberman was sworn in as defense minister last week.

“If he throws the Jewish Home [party] out of the coalition then we’ll convene as a party and consider the matter,” Herzog said at an event in the central city of Modi’in, referring to the religious nationalist right wing party.

Education Minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett on Thursday vowed to topple the Likud-led government if necessary in order to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“Netanyahu chose to go with the extremists, I don’t see a scenario that he’ll separate from them,” Herzog said. “Netanyahu is held captive today by a radical right wing government,” he went on. “I went with Netanyahu for a long stretch but in the end he decided that he’s going to the far right.”

The opposition leader said Netanyahu and Liberman’s recent talk about pushing for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was positive, “but not enough.”

In a dramatic move, Netanyahu on Monday partially endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative, offering to negotiate with the Arab world regarding the parameters of the plan, which promises Israel full diplomatic ties with 57 Arab and Muslim states in return for cementing a peace accord with the Palestinians. On Thursday night, Netanyahu also reportedly told US Secretary of State John Kerry he was saying “yes” to regional efforts to advance the peace process.

“The Arabs don’t believe Liberman and Netanyahu. They want to see action,” Herzog said.

Zionist Union MK Shelly Yachimovich also said the party would support the coalition if it makes a serious push for peace with the Palestinians.

Earlier in the week Netanyahu and Liberman vowed to pursue a peace agreement with the Palestinians, to which Bennett replied that he would “stand as a fortified wall against historic mistakes.”

“If Netanyahu and Liberman will lead to a real [peace] process, our finger will be there; we will be a constructive opposition,” Yachimovich said.