Netanyahu. 'We didn't slam government's conduct'
Photo: Gil Yohanan
PM slams Kadima over no-confidence vote
Netanyahu says opposition must 'practice restraint' on backdrop of deadly Navy raid on Gaza-bound flotilla. 'In the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead the opposition stood by the government,' he states
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
on Monday slammed the Kadima
faction for submitting a no-confidence motion against the government while Israel is dealing with the global criticism
following its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Speaking during a Likud
faction meeting, the prime minister noted that during the Second Lebanon War
and Operation Cast Lead,
his party did not initiate any no-confidence votes against the Kadima government.
Damage Control
Attila Somfalvi
Opposition leader speaks to foreign press in effort to minimize blow to Israel's image following fatal takeover of Gaza-bound flotilla, but says, 'I did not see a single official Israeli representative embark on PR campaign'
"We remember Cast Lead, the Second Lebanon War and the attack on Israel. We know that during those events the situation was different: The opposition clearly stood by the government, for months," Netanyahu said.
Likud faction meeting (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
He stressed that despite the fact that the upcoming elections in the winter of 2009, his party did not slam the government's conduct during the Gaza operation.
In an apparent attempt to tease Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, Netanyahu said: "In Cast Lead we were in the middle of an election campaign. My friends and I gave interviews, time after time. Not for five minutes, but because we were internally convinced. The same happened during the Second Lebanon War. It's not that we did not have any criticism. The first time we submitted a no-confidence motion was two months after the war, and even then it wasn't about the war."
In a message to Kadima, the prime minister said, "What I demand and expect of the opposition is what we have demanded of ourselves: Restraint, commitment to the State, really standing behind the State of Israel. The next flotilla is in the horizon. It's not over. We must stand together and act responsibly. Together we can ward it off."
Kadima submitted a no-confidence motion on "the attempt of government officials to shirk responsibility and direct the criticism on the Gaza flotilla towards the IDF's soldiers and commanders."
Addressing the situation created following the deadly Navy raid, the prime minister said that "the State of Israel is under attack. The attack is aimed at breaking the siege on the Hamas rule in Gaza. The siege was rightfully imposed by the previous government in order to prevent the entry of missiles, rockets and other weapons directed at Israel's citizens. The attack against us did not begin now and now a week ago; it has been going on for several years."
