After days of enduring critiques against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud party responded angrily to Hatnua Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, who is running with the Labor party in the upcoming election.
In a live interview event in Netanya Saturday, Livni argued Operation Protective Edge could have ended successfully and enabled Israel to enlist the support of the world, if Netanyahu had not “hesitated and stuttered.”
According to Likud, "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ran Operation Protective Edge, together with the Defense Minister [Moshe Ya'alon] and the IDF Chief of Staff [Benny Gantz] firmly, responsibly, and with the overall consideration to strike against Hamas and protect the lives and security of Israeli citizens and soldiers alike."
"During the operation, the IDF struck Hamas the hardest blow since its inception," the Likud statement noted.
Likud added that "Livni never misses the opportunity to point a finger at Israel and stand by Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. This encapsulates the feeble policy which continues to invite more pressure on Israel to make concessions and withdrawals."
At the cultural event, Livni criticized Netanyahu for portraying her as a weak leader because of her sex, before slamming what she described as his weakness at the end of Operation Protective Edge.
"I was there and I know," she said, adding, "during the whole operation there was a possibility - which I promoted - to mobilize the whole world to stand by Israel around the following principles: demilitarization of Gaza, an international coalition against Hamas, preventing the re-arming of Hamas, and a return to the negotiation process on our own terms."
"But this opportunity was missed because Netanyahu hesitated and stuttered. The result is that today we are facing attacks - the UN resolution against Israel and the PA joining the International Criminal Court to bring claims against the IDF. We could have prevented it," she stated.
Livni added that "Netanyahu is weak. The world does not believe him and Abbas recognizes this weakness and manipulates them against all of Israel. There is no reason we should all pay the price. We, Herzog and I, will return Israel to a situation where the world stands by her side against the Palestinians and against terrorism."