Gabbay (L) and PM Netanyahu
Gabbay to Netanyahu: 'Time for elections'
Zionist Union Chairman Gabbay calls on Netanyahu to reach decision 'entire coalition knows you should make', announce new elections; Recommendations Bill 'terrible law', Gabbay says, 'in favor of public corruption'; Lieberman: if government falls, it will be due to Supermarket Bill.
Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay appealed directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his party's meeting Monday, saying, "Dear prime minister, truth must be told: it's time for elections. It's time for you to make a decision the entire coalition realizes you should make."
"We've seen no actions taken for the benefit of the public in this session, but merely laws whose purpose is keeping together a loose coalition," Gabbay added.
"This is not the way a government should be managed, this is not the way a country should be managed and everyone knows it's only going to get worse. Compromises are carried out at our expense, so when it starts smelling like elections, simply call for elections and don't spring something new on the public every week," Gabbay criticized.
Gabbay (L) called on PM Netanyahu to announce new elections
Gabbay continued by attacking the current coalition on their sponsorship of Shabbat bills. "You're harming the public with the Supermarket Bill. Most of the public—religious as well as traditional—wants public transportation on Shabbat, wants to shop on Shabbat here and there. Instead of making decisions for the majority, you're making decisions for the minority for political gain," the Zionist Union leader said.
Commenting on the Recommendations Bill, Gabbay said, "It's a terrible bill. A bill that favors public corruption and helps criminal organizations. The people blowing up cars on the streets are the beneficiaries."
Speaking at his own party's meeting Monday, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "We won't be overly pleased to see early elections. The State of Israel does not require elections in light of the security challenges it faces."
Lieberman did qualify the previous statement by saying, "Whoever brings the Supermarket Bill to a vote will face the consequences. If this right-wing government falls apart, the people behind the bill will be responsible."
Defense Minister Lieberman said if government fell, it would be because of Supermarket Bill (Photo: AFP)
"I reiterate, I support Jewish values, I support Israel's traditions and I'm diametrically opposed to religious coercion. I think I represent the majority of the people, and like most of them I do Kiddush on Friday evening and get in my car to play tennis Saturday morning. I then go to supermarket to buy some good cheeses and fresh rolls. I don't see what's wrong with that.
"It's for that reason that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri's statement as if 'immigrants from the former Soviet Union struggled to come to Israel to buy pork sausage on Shabbat' are nothing but racism," Lieberman accused.
Education Minister and Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett also spoke at his party's meeting, and said, "I call on my friends in the government and the coalition to act responsibly and not paint themselves into corners they won't be able to get out of. We too have suffered things we didn't really care for."
