Opposition Leader Yitzhak Herzog
Opposition Leader Yitzhak HerzogFlash 90

Opposition leader MK Yitzchak Herzog (Labor) on Saturday night urged Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) to leave the coalition, given that the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) are not progressing.

Herzog took particular issue with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s clarification that Livni was representing only herself in her meeting with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in London.

"I find it hard to understand what people like Tzipi Livni, Ofer Shelah or Amram Mitzna are looking for in a government in which, according to the Foreign Minister, their main role is to play checkers," Herzog charged.

"The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have proven today that they belong to the bi-national camp and are not even ashamed of it," he said.

"The fact that they publicly declare that Tzipi Livni does not represent Israel shows that they have no more need the fig leaf called Hatnua and that, as far as they’re concerned, the government's nakedness them can be revealed to the whole world," said Herzog.

While Herzog was critical of Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, the Jewish Home party launched a scathing attack against the Justice Minister for meeting Abbas.

“Tzipi Livni has long ago lost contact with the Israeli electorate, and with her latest meetings she finally turned into a satellite that has lost all contact with the Earth,” the party said in a statement.

“Tzipi Livni voted in favor of the cessation of the contacts with the Hamas-Fatah alliance, then flew to London to violate that same decision. If it's hard for her to accept the decisions of the government, the door for her to leave is open.”