Center-left MKs continue hammering the message: Netanyahu must be replaced
'We'll go with whoever has enough mandates to replace the Netanyahu administration, even with Herzog or Livni,' says Yesh Atid's Yaakov Peri, while Labor's Shelly Yachimovich says united front will require party leaders to commit not to sit in Netanyahu gov't.
MKs in the center-left did not spare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of their criticism on Saturday, and continued calling for his replacement in the upcoming March elections.
"We'll go with whoever has enough mandates to replace the Netanyahu administration, even with (Labor leader Isaac) Herzog or (Hatnua leader Tzipi) Livni," former Yesh Atid minister Yaakov Peri said at a cultural event in Be'er Sheva.
Peri, who resigned from his position as minister of science, technology and space after Netanyahu fired Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, said it's not as important who will lead a possible united center-left bloc, as long as it replaces the existing leadership. "I'll be the first to support and act in forming such a bloc," he said.
Peri, a former head of the Shin Bet, slammed Netanyahu's decision to go to elections. "This was an irresponsible decision. The end of Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership has arrived. When a soccer team loses in the league, who do they replace? The coach, the leader. His attempt to convince Yesh Atid members to move to the Likud is an old and cheap political trick."
Peri said Yesh Atid foresaw the possibility Netanyahu will decide to call for elections. "When Lapid went to his meeting with Netanyahu, we explored all of the possibilities and one of them was that this was the end of the current Knesset. Netanyahu has already made up his mind and he cut not only tens of billions of shekels that were supposed to go to welfare, the IDF move to the Negev and other things, but also put an end to many reforms planned for the coming year."
One of the main reasons that led to the end of the coalition was the contentious 'Nationality Law.' Peri said he was glad the bill proposal, led by Netanyahu, won't pass not that elections are ahead.
"They tried to pass the 'Nationality Law' on the same day a Druze policeman lost his life protecting worshipers at a synagogue in Har Nof. We must not support legislation that discriminates and that eventually creates a separation between First and Second Class citizens."
On Yesh Atid's situation in the polls, Peri recommended "not to worry."
"When we first embarked on this journey, the polls showed us at best with 9-10 mandates and we ended up with 19. The polls are a result of the public mood and this changes regularly. I estimate we'll get 13-15 mandates," he said.
When asked whether his party will sit in a government with the haredi parties, he said, "we never did boycotts. We think Netanyahu needs to be replaced. It's almost a national imperative. Everything happens in politics, I'm not ruling out anything. We'll see how things go."
Peri also discussed the failed negotiations with the Palestinians and said that on this issue, there's a deep chasm between Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi. "On the Palestinian issue, if it came to making final-status decisions, this is where the government would've collapsed. If it must collapse, it would've been better if it was over something that would've hailed a new era for the region, rather than insignificant arguments that I expect a leader to solve rather than leading the State of Israel to elections."
Labor's Shelly Yachimovich, also speaking at a cultural event, said the heads of the center and left factions were doing all they could to create partnerships and alliances in order to bring to the end of Netanyahu's administration.
She noted that it was critical the heads of parties committed not to recommend Netanyahu for prime minister following the elections, and not sit to in a future coalition with Netanyahu at its helm.
Labor MK Nachman Shai, speaking at a cultural event in Mevaseret Zion, said Israel must be pulled out of "the stagnation it deteriorated into in society, economy, foreign relations and security."
He went on to say that the "goal of the upcoming elections is to replace the right-wing bloc headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Netanyahu is incapable of leading the country anymore, which is why we need to form a large bloc from the center-left, to pull Israel out of it and return the country to the path of progress and prosperity."
Hatnua MK David Tzur stressed that "we're going to elections not because of considerations that are putting the country's best in mind.
"The prime minister has been ruling for many years. He's an ideologist, intelligent and sharp and his narrative touches all fields of life, so it's not serious for him to say that ministers who have been in his government for less than two years are responsible for the current situation. I wouldn't have run from responsibility as the prime minister did when he placed the responsibility solely on his partners."
