MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said Thursday morning that her party has no intention of joining the coalition led by Binyamin Netanyahu, the nuclear deal with Iran notwithstanding.
Livni denied reports that her party's chairman, MK Yitzhak Herzog, intends to join the Coalition following a meeting he had with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in which Netanyahu briefed him on the security assessments delivered to the Cabinet following the signing of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Livni told Kol Yisrael public radio that she has spoken with Herzog and that he reiterated his pubic position and said: “The Zionist Union will help the government to fight the nuclear deal with Iran from the Opposition benches.”
MK Merav Michaeli, also of the Zionist Union, told Army Radio that she also spoke to Herzog, who denied any intention of joining the government.
"Herzog repeatedly said it – he said it yesterday in the Knesset plenum and he said it to me this morning on the phone – it's nonsense,” she insisted.
Michaeli, who is considered to be one of the most radical leftists in the Zionist Union, also criticized Herzog for saying that he agrees with Netanyahu that the nuclear deal is “bad and dangerous.”
"That's how he sees it, what can I do? I am not a partner to this absolute assessment,” she explained.
According to Haaretz, Netayahu and Herzog have been putting out feelers in a mutual attempt to assess the feasibility of a unity coalition. The messages between the two have reportedly been relayed by President Reuven Rivlin.