Weekend reports said that Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu has acceded to demands by Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman, that Daniel Freidmann remain on as Justice Minister in the government Netanyahu is trying to form. In response to the report which appeared Friday on the NRG (Maariv) web site, Labor chairman Ehud Barak said that if true, the development was a deal-breaker for his party's participation in the government.
In an interview Friday with Channel 2, Barak said that "what is needed now in the state of Israel is a wide ranging unity government that will join hands, overcome individual egos, and deal with the problems facing the country." He said that he opposed a government consisting of just right wing/religious parties, calling it a "plague," adding that, in any event, "if Daniel Friedmann is Justice Minister, Labor will not be in the government."