Herzog: I'll be the next prime minister
'I will try to form a centrist bloc that will pose an alternative to Netanyahu. I work towards this goal in a cautious and sobered attitude,' Labor leader says at Saban Forum in Washington.
Far away from the political storm raging in Israel, Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) and former justice minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) were in a light mood on Friday night at the Saban Forum in Washington.
"I will be the next prime minister and I call on Tzipi Livni and Hatnua to join me," Herzog said in a conversation with Israeli reporters at the sidelines of the forum.
"Sure, as long as there's another prime minister," Livni, standing next to him, responded with a smile.
In his appearance at the Saban Forum, Herzog quipped that he told his way he was going to "invest in some couplehood with Tzipi over the weekend."
He went on to say that "I said this from day one, when I was elected chairman of the Labor party, that I will try to form a centrist bloc that will pose an alternative to Netanyahu. I work towards this goal in a cautious and sobered attitude. We're not in negotiations right now, we're here to listen and be heard."
He also attacked the prime minister, saying "there's a crisis of trust between him and President Obama."
Herzog asserted that "the right thing is to make a move of joining together in a reasonable manner."
Speaking to Israeli reporters he continued, "I said this before, and it's not a secret, that I view Tzipi Livni and Hatnua as important parts of this unity initiative. I intend to win the next elections and form the next government. I offer a true alternative to Netanyahu on all walks of life. The current government has accumulated countless of failures and brought us to the brink of disaster."
Livni, meanwhile, met with Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice at the White House on Friday.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was the first to speak at the Saban Forum's 11th annual conference. She took the opportunity to stress that the American administration will continue aiding Israel, regardless of who was prime minister.
She went on to stress that "there is a necessary imperative to continue to try to achieve a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians. The two state solution … remains an important and, I would argue, essential concept to bring people together around."
The conference was held under the banner of "Stormy Seas: The United States and Israel in a Tumultuous Middle East."
According to Clinton, "if you look at the close cooperation, and what this administration and the Congress over the last six years has done with respect to Israel’s security, it’s quite extraordinary."
She noted that while there are differences between Israel's and the United States' leaderships, relations between the two nations are stable and will remain so. "It doesn't mean we have to agree on everything," she added.
Clinton said the US will continue working to bring to a resolution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I’m well aware of everything going on and the increasing tensions in the region, in Israel, in the West Bank to say nothing of the continuing aggressive behavior from Hamas coming out of Gaza," she said. "But the absence of negotiations leaves a vacuum that gets filled by problems, bad actors, threats, other kinds of behavior that are not good for Israel and not good for the Palestinians."
