Livni: New government is bad for Israel

HA’ARETZ

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Tuesday wished success to the incoming coalition as it prepared to be sworn in at the Knesset in Jerusalem, but quickly added that the deal under which the government had been assembled would “not benefit the state at all.”

Livni, who lost out on the opportunity to form the new government despite her Kadima party’s slim win in the February elections, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the opposition under her leadership would act responsibly.

“I would like to see new government succeed,” Livni said, as she took the podium following incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address.

Her speech was heaped with criticism of Israel’s 32nd government, though, calling the coalition deal “a shame to the Knesset.”

Livni also blasted the “enormous” size of the cabinet, which will comprise 30 ministers and seven deputy ministers.

“The honorable prime minister-designate, the skinny man who is getting skinnier every day,” Livni said, alluding to Netanyahu’s feted metaphor of the private sector struggling to support the wasteful public sector. “On this thin man’s shoulders you have now dumped this bloated government, filled with ministers of nothing, deputy ministers of nothings, and all sorts of other ridiculous titles,” she said.

“A big and lavish cabinet is wrong at a time of economic constraints,” said Livni, adding that “the public will have to carry the enormous weight of a bloated cabinet.”

“Kadima will continue to be alternative to government,” she vowed. “If [we] had joined the government, we would have buried hope.” Livni pledged that her opposition would work to bring the public’s faith back to the Knesset.

She also took the opportunity to lambaste Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak, who chose to join Netanyahu’s government despite the latter’s right-wing stance.

“Ehud Barak is committing personal fraud by exploting his political connections,” she said.

In response, Barak’s office called Livni’s “embarrassing statements… proof of her losing control.”

“The extent of her frustration is not a justification to say these things in the name of a ‘more ethical politics,'” Barak’s associates said. “Ms. Livni should put her own house in order, and scrutinize the conduct of Kadima members, before giving lessons to others.”

“Livni should invest her energies in parliamentary motions instead of baseless and reckless accusations,” they concluded.

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