Livni’s number two: We should leave the government now

By Noam Sheizaf June 7, 2014 | Edit

MK Mitzna adds that he hopes the departure of his party from the coalition will lead to its downfall.

Amir Peretz, Tzipi Livni and Amram Mitzna [right] (photo: Yotam Ronen /Activestills.org)

Amram Mitzna, former head of Labor party and currently number two in Tzipi Livni’s Tnuah party, called on his fellow party members to leave Netanyahu’s government due to the prime minister’s lack of commitment to the peace process. “I don’t believe Netanyahu anymore that he is interested in a settlement with the Palestinians,” said Mitzna in a public political event in Kfar Saba.

Mitzna added that he hopes the Tnuah’s departure from the coalition will make the government fall. Netanyahu’s collation has 68 members but without Livni it would only have 62, only one seat more than a Knesset majority. Estimates are that such a narrow government will either be highly dysfunctional or will collapse altogether.

This is a new position for Mitzna, suggesting the great depth of his disappointment with Netanayhu. Only recently, Mizna published an op-ed in Haaretz explaining that his party’s presence in the government puts checks on the extremism of the Jewish Home party, and it was thank to Livni that negotiations with the Palestinians took off in the first place. Recent events, such as Netanyahu’s response to the Palestinian unity government and the announcement of 1,500 new settlement housing units could have contributed to Mitzna’s change of heart.

On Friday, Channel 2 reported that leaders of the centrist parties – Lapid, Livni and Herzog – have begun secret talks on establishing a bloc that would challenge Netanyahu and Lieberman’s Likud-Beitenu party. Some early negotiations also included former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon. So far, no breakthrough has been reached.

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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