Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog on Thursday evening blasted what he called “gangs from Judea and Samaria” who, he claimed, had prevented Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from going forward with an agreement to have the Zionist Union join the coalition.

“I acted according to my conscience, I thought that this was a rare historic opportunity,” Herzog told Channel 2 News. “I was acting against forces who were also operating in the media and against extreme leftist groups who were ready to talk with Ahmadinejad but not with Netanyahu.”

He denied that he “crawled” towards Netanyahu’s government and claimed the Prime Minister was scared to present in writing the political commitments to which they had both agreed during their talks.

“Netanyahu decided in recent days that it is hard for him, he was threatened, the gang from Judea and Samaria was holding him back,” charged Herzog.

Referring to Liberman’s imminent entry into the coalition, Herzog said, “Maybe [Netanyahu] tricked me. But it was my duty, even if I pay the most severe political price, to consider the option.”

He also responded to the harsh criticism heaped on him by MK Shelly Yechimovich, claiming that in private talks she supported joining the coalition but stated otherwise in public.

“She begged to be appointed a government minister,” stated Herzog.