Israel Matzav

Likud warns Bibi: No coalition with Livni

Likud MK's and Mayors have warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that the party will not stand for a coalition with Tzipi Livni and Shelly Yecimovitch without the Jewish Home.

The warnings came after former foreign minister Tzipi Livni twice sent messengers to speak to Netanyahu’s confidants about joining forces in the government he is expected to form following the January 22 election.

“If the Likud Beytenu does not fare as well as expected in the election, Netanyahu might be able to get away with saying he had no choice but to bring Center-Left parties into the coalition,” Likud MK Danny Danon said. “But if Likud gets 40 seats and he goes to [Labor leader] Shelly [Yacimovich] instead of Bayit Yehudi, the Likud rank and file will be angry. It would be seen as betrayal of our partner.”

Netanyahu met Wednesday with a group of Likud mayors and council heads from Judea and Samaria. They warned him that he had made a mistake by attacking Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, who was a preferred coalition partner.

Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Perl said that Netanyahu’s comments against Bennett were swaying people to vote for his party, instead of the Likud.

The Likud and Bayit HaYehudi are very close to each other, Netanyahu needs to embrace the party and not attack it, Perl said.

"They have the same voters and they have to move forward together," he added.

Well, yes. But if Netanyahu went and formed a coalition with the Center-Left it would not be the first time that the Likud rank and file was ignored by the party's leadership.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Jewish Home party, Shelly Yacimovich, Tzipi Livni

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:36 PM