'Door to negotiations remains open'
Despite the political chess games between the PM and the leader of the opposition and despite the criticism heaped upon him by his own faction, Herzog leaves the door ajar on negotiations to join the government.
Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog indicated on Saturday that he remains open to discussing his faction’s conditional entry into the government. “Netanyahu chose to go with the extremists, and I don’t see him separating from them," said Herzog during an event in the city of Modi’in. "However, if he does separate from the extreme right, we will meet and decide. I am the leader of a strong and ideological group. I am the leader of the group, but I am not a dictator.”
The comments come just days after Herzog came under fire from his own party for engaging in surreptitious negotiations with Netanyahu. Moreover, the apparent backtrack comes just days after Herzog took to his Twitter account to slam the door shut on any further rounds of negotiations.
“Netanyahu, in response to your moves during the last few days to renew negotiations on joining the government, I want to clarify publicly what I have said to you: The door is closed. This chapter has ended. You are a prisoner of extremists and we will fight against this and against them.”
MK Erel Margalit (Zionist Union) responded on Saturday night to Herzog’s comments with contempt, stating, “At this rate, the Labor party will be transformed from an alternative to Likud to an alternative to Ale Yarok (the Green Leaf Party). We will sink in the polls and. Netanyahu has created the most extreme government in the state’s history and instead of toppling it we are waiting outside in the rain until he lets us come in.”
MK Shelly Yachimovich, who was at the forefront of the opposition to the negotiaions conducted between Herzog and Netanyahu, contended that the opposition needed to make more dramatic demands for the Zionist Union to agree to to even consider entering the government. “If there is a practical political move and not only one of talk, the story could be reopened,” said Yachomovich.
“I promise that, if there is a real opportunity, I'll be the one who makes sure that we don't miss it. If there is a genuinely united government and not a casual crawl to the right-wing government...which doesn’t only include words but also deeds, which leads to a breakthrough and, of course, a fundamental change in the guidelines and commitments of the coalition, I won’t say no to this. At the moment, this is far away from the current situation.”
Yachimovich further attacked the recent statements of peace made by Netanyahu and Lieberman last week. “When I see Netanyahu and Lieberman suddenly spouting the words of peace, I cannot help but think that they will lure us in with the the dove of peace and then finish whatever is left of the Labor party if, God forbid, we join them based on these words.”
Another MK from her party, Itzik Shmuli, commented on the timing of the message of peace of Netanyahu, and said “Since the beginning of the investigations and reports, Netanyahu is suddenly bringing up the two-state solution and is running to wave the dove of peace. It seems that the extent of the government’s withdrawal depends on the extent of the investigation. But they are all empty declarations with absolutely nothing behind them except smoke screens.”
