Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) sharply criticized former minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday evening.
Speaking at a gathering of Likud activists, Edelstein said that the upcoming elections were imposed on the Likud due to the coalition’s inability to function, which he blamed on the other parties in the coalition which refused to cooperate with one another.
"Just as this coalition was forced on the Likud, so were the elections imposed on it. When there is no cooperation between the coalition partners - a basic condition for governmental functioning - there is no choice but to go back and get a mandate from the voters,” he said.
He accused Livni of torpedoing his attempts to set red lines, such as suspending MK Hanin Zoabi from participating in Knesset discussions due to her anti-Israel statements.
"When MK Zoabi expressed herself in an unacceptable manner, I took an unusual step, quite rare for the Knesset Speaker, and submitted a complaint to the Ethics Committee asking that she be denied from participation in plenary discussions for a maximum period of six months,” said Edelstein.
"Even the Supreme Court approved the move, but when there was a vote in the Knesset to approve the suspension, the ‘First Lady of the Israeli satire’, that I’ve forgotten to which party she belongs to because I’m having a hard time following, disappeared and did a dirty trick with the Arab parties,” he added, in a direct reference to Livni’s appearance on a satirical show last week, in which she broke from the norms of political correctness and criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Edelstein was referring to the fact that in October, MKs from Livni’s Hatnua party, as well as several MKs from Yesh Atid, disappeared during a vote on Zoabi’s appeal against her six-month ban from the Knesset.
The abstentions by the two left-wing parties within the governing coalition were apparently part of a deal forged between them and the Arab parties, according to which they would support Zoabi's appeal in return for Arab MKs' votes for the controversial Conversion Bill.
Sunday’s remarks are the second time in a week that Edelstein has criticized Livni. Last week the Knesset Speaker said that Livni must be consistently reminded of her zigzagging in recent years, having been originally elected as a member of Likud, then splitting Likud and joining Kadima, then jumping ship and splitting Kadima, forming Hatnua. Last week, she agreed to run on a joint list with Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog.
"Livni’s jumping to a fourth party within a few years is political corruption and a bad example to the younger undecided generation. She must be reminded of her frenetic shuttle diplomacy while taking party financing with her on her way to the next station," said Edelstein.