Labor would never join a government with Likud, Labor-Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni opined Friday - because, according to her, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu refuses to heed the beck and call of US President Barack Obama.
"Unity is not a technical matter of distribution of files, but a matter of a shared vision," Livni told Army Radio. "Netanyahu and [Jewish Home Chairman Naftali] Bennett's plan is a way that leads to the deterioration of the state of Israel in any field - you should understand who they are and what are the blocs in this election - we have here one bloc that includes the far-right Likud and Bennett, and it is very clear that their way is not our way."
Livni then attempted to paint Labor as an egalitarian party that places an emphasis on national security.
"As someone who was in the political-security cabinet ten years, there was a trio that makes decisions - even the war on operations - including the unnamed, and will continue to fight the perception that women cannot provide a response to security - they can, very well," Livni said.
She then claimed that it is the US, not Israel, who really calls the shots in terms of public approval.
"The question of this election is not who will answer the phone in Jerusalem at three in the morning - but which Prime Minister will answer a phone call from Washington at three in the morning," she fired.
Livni's words echo similar comments from Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog, who stated Thursday night that there is "a clear link between international isolation and disturbing way that [the Palestinian Authority] takes Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, and the deterioration of our relations with the United States."
He added that "throughout the history of the State of Israel, important decisions were made by the US President."
Herzog, who will head the joint list with Livni, has hinted before that he will appease Obama's push for a Palestinian state, stating that he supports dividing Jerusalem and creating a Palestinian state in the Biblical heartland of Israel.