Leftist MK Stav Shaffir (Labor), a former leader of the social protest movements, hailed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s decision Tuesday night to disband the coalition government, firing ministers Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni.
Shaffir referred to Netanyahu by his nickname saying “the state of Israel isn’t stuck with Bibi anymore.”
“The time has come for the public in Israel to internalize that and act together with us to finally replace the government in Israel,” said the young leftist MK, who has vocally opposed the Jewish presence in Israel’s Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria.
Shaffir continued “the conflicting pair of Lapid and Netanyahu competed between themselves for the last year and a half mostly over one thing: who is doing the least for the Israeli public, and the most for personal leveraging.”
“The price of housing rose, the price of rentals jumped, salaries remained frozen, the peace talks failed, the security threats on Israel and within the country are at a peak, the nation is divided and racism celebrates,” claimed Shaffir. “These elections are not only not unnecessary, they are vital.”
Making a push for her party, the MK said “this is our chance, the democratic camp in Israel led by the Labor party, to show that it is possible to do things differently. This is our time to bring the change that the public in Israel wants so badly.”
Despite her claims of Labor taking control, Channel 2 and Channel 10 polls on Tuesday indicated that Likud would stay the largest party with 22 seats, followed by Jewish Home at 17 and Labor coming in third with 13 mandates.
Former Labor head MK Shelly Yechimovich also commented on the upcoming elections, saying “Netanyahu spoke as if he wasn’t the prime minister for the last two years.”
“We watched a performance of self-praises in which the prime minister speaks about the government he led as if he wasn’t prime minister, a total shirking of responsibility,” said Yechimovich of Netanyahu’s Tuesday night speech.
According to the Labor MK, Netanyahu “accuses the whole world apart from himself and spreads a sorry and hopeless vision for the country. Netanyahu is right that his partners failed, they are also right that he failed.”
