Ex-Senior Likud Official Warns Israel, World On A Collision Course
Source: Haaretz
Dan Meridor, a former cabinet minister, warns of 'irreconcilable contradiction between what world community wants and what majority in this government think.'
By Judy Maltz | May 19, 2015 | 3:25 PM
A former prominent Likud politician has warned that Israel’s new government is heading down a collision course with the international community and could pay dearly for its resolve to build Jewish settlements indiscriminately in the West Bank.
Dan Meridor, who held senior portfolios in previous Likud-led governments, including justice and finance, also expressed deep concern that Israel’s ruling party seems to be abandoning its longstanding commitment to human rights and democracy.
“In the past, the Likud had always tried to strike a balance between nationalism and the pursuit of the Zionist dream, on the one hand, and liberalism, respect for democracy and the individual, on the other,” said Meridor in an interview with Haaretz.
“This balance, unfortunately, has been disturbed, and I see the Likud becoming much more nationalistic and less attentive to its liberal side. Today, in the party, when you use words like democracy, human rights and rule of law, they immediately depict you as a leftist.”
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.657188
Tzipi Livni: Israel Is Weak, Isolated Without The US
By YONAH JEREMY BOB
05/19/2015 11:41
"Netanyahu committed the original sin of intervening in American domestic politics and ruined relations with US," says the Zionist Union knesset member.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is eroding Israel’s relations with the US, leading to the Jewish state’s diplomatic isolation, Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni said Tuesday.
Speaking at an Israel Bar Association conference in Eilat, Livni said the prime minister had “committed the original sin” of “intervening in American domestic politics and ruined relations with the US” – a reference to Netanyahu’s March speech to Congress without the approval of US President Barack Obama.
The former foreign minister continued that much of Israel’s security and ability to project strength “depends on US support,” pointing out that even in the heat of war, Israel’s ability to finish an operation and achieve its postwar aims depended on the US.
According to Livni, the country has a choice of being seen as it is now, “a small, isolated country,” or as it could be seen if relations with the US were repaired – “a country with deep links [to] and support” from the world’s most powerful country.
She said that Israel needed to be strong not just militarily, but also diplomatically.
more...
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Tzipi-Livni-Israel-is-weak-isolated-without-the-US-403510
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