Political controversy becoming strident: Sources close to Kadima Chairman Shaul Mofaz slammedForeign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Friday, calling him a "bouncer" and accusing him of "harming Israel" by trying to find an alternative to the Tal Law.
Meanwhile, a senior Likud official blamed Mofaz and his party for trying to stir a coalitional crisis with Yisrael Beiteinu ,and pushing it to quit the coalition. "Kadima wants Lieberman's portfolio so they are trying to make him quit," said the official. "There is no other explanation for this behavior," he added.
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Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Mofaz, and sources privy to the details of the meeting claim that Mofaz decided to retract his support for the inclusion of Arab army enlistment in the Plesner Committee recommendations.
According to one of the sources, "the issue of Arab recruitment into the IDF was discussed during the meeting, and we are not clear why Mofaz decided to take Plesner's stance of excluding them from the new law."
"There was an agreement with Kadima that they will support this issue," said the source. "Mofaz changed his mind, probably due to a strategic decision to push Lieberman into a corner."
Earlier on Friday, Netanyahu said during that the Plesner Committee must drop a recommendation for personal sanctions against anyone who does not join the IDF.
Meanwhile, the committee decided it will not release its recommendations without first coordinating it with the prime minister.
- "We won't approve the sanctions without coordinating it with the prime minister," they said. "There is great discord on the matter of the sanctions. We won’t pursue unsatisfactory pseudo sanctions."