In response to former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's announcement on Monday morning that he supports Labor head Yitzhak Herzog, Likud fired back, noting the disastrous results of Barak and Herzog's policies in the past.
"Barak and Buji (Herzog) are joining again, like they did in '99, to bring a leftist government of withdrawals, concessions and division of Jerusalem," charged Likud.
Likud reminded how Herzog back in 1999 took the right of silence so as to avoid addressing his and Barak's involvement in an NGO scandal, in which it was charged that Barak breached party funding laws.
"Last time it ended with them bringing on us the Second Intifada (in 2000) and buses blowing up in the heart of Israeli cities," warned Likud. "This time too they are aided by leftist NGOs (V15 - ed.), and millions of dollars streaming from abroad to Israel to raise the voting rate among Arabs and leftist voters, but this time they aren't keeping silent."
Likud claimed "the only way to stop the attempt to crown Tzipi (Livni) and Buji as leftist prime ministers, and to ensure the establishment of a Likud government with our partners in the nationalist camp, is to decrease the gap created in polls and vote for a large Likud."
In Barak's published call of support for Herzog he wrote "I've known Yitzhak Herzog for dozens of years. He served as government secretary under me and as a minister next to me in governments that I was part of as the Labor leader."
"Yitzhak Herzog is a measured, experienced and responsible man," claimed Barak. "I saw Yitzhak Herzog from close up in the most sensitive security and policy debates, and at their end there were decisions."
Barak concluded "I am aware also of the great appreciation for Herzog among world leaders who met him and spoke with him. I trust Yitzhak Herzog. Citizens of Israel can trust him on all security issues on the agenda."
As noted in Likud's response, Barak's unprecedented offers to concede on Israeli rights to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem during the 2000 Camp David Accords are seen as being a direct trigger to the ensuing terror war, often termed the Second Intifada, which cost thousands of Israeli lives.