Tzipi Livni
Tzipi LivniFlash 90

Hatnua Chairman Tzipi Livni, following in the footsteps of other dismissed minister, Yair Lapid, issued a personal attack against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Thursday morning.

"Netanyahu is frightened," Livni stated to Yediot Aharonoth, "And unfortunately he passed this fear on to large segments of the public. Israel is a strong country with a weak prime minister," she emphasized. 

Livni continued her remarks by criticizing Netanyahu's functionality. "It is our duty to say: we have a prime minister of a country that is really under a lot of threats. But, his ability to function is so miniscule." 

"There is a huge gap between the man that gives impressive political speeches and the politician's small behavior in a room, even in difficult situations. This gap should remind the public that at the end of the day, we choose the person who sits in that chair." 

"I don't blame [him]; it's not personal between me and him. The thing is the personality of the man who has sat in that chair," Livni determined. 

"We are in a situation where we need to make a decision. The world is waiting, and suddenly settlers enter the room, and Bennett says this, and the stress begins to affect us, and we can't make a decision, and so we roll into a situation that we can't control," Livni said, alluding to the failed peace process. 

"The Prime Minister's entire outlook - no matter what we do - is that the whole world is against us. For several years, he has transferred this feeling to the public. The public needs to understand it has undergone several years of brainwashing. We have become a country of paranoia. He has turned Israel into a ghetto," Livni stressed. 

"In 1996 [during Netanyahu's first term as Prime Minister], I saw Netanyahu's fear of his own ministers. This is what is happening again today. He is afraid of the politicians around him, his own ministers," Livni added. 

When asked if she would sit in a government with Netanyahu again, Livni stated, "Netanyahu does not need to be Prime Minister. I'm working to change it. Therefore, I don't envision myself sitting in a future government of his." 

It has been reported that Livni's Hatnua party, as well as several other left or center-left parties, are negotiating in hopes of creating "an alternative to Netanyahu." According to the proposal, the parties will run separately but lead a unified bloc, refusing to sit in a coalition with Netanyahu.