Livni: Netanyahu shouldn't be prime minister, he's weak and frightened
'The public needs to understand it has been brainwashed. We became a paranoid country. Netanyahu turned Israel into a ghetto,' Hatnua leader tells Ynet.
After being fired from the government, Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni attacked her former boss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday morning, calling him a "weak" and "frightened" man.
"Netanyahu is a frightened man. Unfortunately, he passed on this fear to large parts of the public," Livni said at an interview in Ynet's studio.
"It is our obligation to say: We have a prime minister of a country truly under a lot of threats, but his ability to function is very low. And there's a massive gap between the character seen in speeches - the very impressive appearance - to his very small political conduct behind closed doors, even in difficult situations," Livni said. "The public need to be told of this gap, because at the end of the day we elect the person sitting in the (prime minister's) chair. I'm not making accusations. It's not personal between me and him. The issue is the personality of the person in the chair."
The former justice minister went on to describe Netanyahu's conduct behind closed doors. "We're in a situation in which a decision needs to be made, the world is waiting, and all of a sudden the settlers come in and Bennett says one thing, and the pressure works and no decision is made. And we're pulled into an incident we don't actually control.
"The prime minister's entire worldview is based on the assumption that no matter what we do - the world is against us. For years he actually got the public feeling this way. The public needs to understand it went through a few years of brainwashing. We became a paranoid country. He turned Israel into a ghetto.
"In '96 I was the director of the Government Companies Authority. I was watching from the sidelines and saw Netanyahu's fear of his ministers. This is what's happening now. He's a man afraid of the politicians around him, of his ministers."
When asked whether or not she will join another Netanyahu government, Livni asserted that "Netanyahu should not be the prime minister. I'm working to replace him. That's why I don't see myself in the future sitting in such a government."
Starting on Tuesday evening, the center-left factions initiated advanced talks on creating what they refer to as an "alternative to Netanyahu." Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog tried to assemble the various center-left parties – Labor, Yesh Atid, Hatnua, Kadima, and Meretz – into a united front.
According to the proposal, the factions will run on separate lists but will lead with one message to the public, asking them to give their vote to whichever party they prefer – as long as the votes remain within the center-left bloc.
