Chairman Yakov Margi of the Shas party's Knesset faction said on Thursday night, "Kadima won't sell the country to the haredim – seeing as they'll sell it beforehand to the Arab though concessions in Jerusalem." Margi was responding to comments made by Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni, earlier in the evening at a meeting of Kadima's board.

During a speech in which she also attacked the Likud party, Livni said, "Kadima will be representative of Israel and will determine its identity as a Jewish state, without selling the country to the haredim along the way."

Margi said Kadima was proving itself no different from the extinct Shunui party, which fought religious institutions in the government. He  added that Kadima's will share Shinui's fate.