Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's "belligerent, violent government" is hindering Israel's ability to defend itself, opposition leader Tzipi Livni charged Tuesday during a conference at Bar Ilan University.
Livni attacked Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as well as Netanyahu for advancing the proposal to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry to probe the funding of left-wing organizations in the country.
"Israel today is deteriorating.... Abusing the very values for which we want to fight," Livni said. "The way that Israeli is presented by the belligerent, violent government is hindering Israel's ability to defend itself. The government tries to silence mouths and harms the country's values, and at the end of the day, this harms the IDF's ability to operate as a moral army."
According to the Kadima leader, Israel is "turning into a leper in the eyes of the world... in the grips of an international blockade."
Speaking on Lieberman, Livni said the conduct of the foreign minister is shocking, and that "the prime minister needs to have his say. He chose this coalition and, hour by hour, he fights to defend it."
"We have not heard any statement of values, we did not hear what his position is on these processes," Livni said about Netanyahu. "We have not heard what his values are. All we heard is what the government is against. Unfortunately we are good at being against. The world is against us, we are against the world. Iran is against us, we're against Iran. Hamas is against us, we are against Hamas. And today we are also against the Left."
"I believe in Israel as a Jewish, democratic state," she stressed. " I believe in justice, in defending the existence of the State of Israel. The world will let us operate if it understands our values. And we need [these values] for ourselves- not just for them."
She said that Israel must be "the Jewish homeland, a democratic state."
On Monday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lashed out harshly at left-wing organizations and their supporters.
Lieberman condemned the NGOs targeted by a proposed parliamentary committee of inquiry, saying “it is clear that these are simply terror-aiding organizations, whose entire goal is to weaken the IDF and its determination to protect Israel’s citizens.” He also called right-wing politicians who opposed the establishment of the committee “traitors” to the national camp.
Rebecca Anna Stoil contributed to this report
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