MK Otniel Schneller was one of three faction members opposed to resigning from the coalition government. Party leader Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has already submitted his letter of resignation to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, explaining that for over 45 years he has been serving the IDF and the nation, and he continued doing so in Knesset. He explained that the process regarding the new chareidi draft law was “historic” and there was no room for compromise since the “sharing the burden” issue is simply too central to the future of the nation.

Schneller feels that while this is all true, Mofaz and his other Kadima colleagues were too influenced by the political climate, and while he feels all chareidim must serve, the gap that exists is not that great and agreement could have been achieved with ongoing talks towards reaching mutual agreement. Schneller feels that leaving the coalition was bad vis-à-vis achieving the “share the burden” objective as well as damaging for Kadima’s future since “to be in the game the party must be relevant, part of the decision-making process, part of the coalition”.

Also voting against the decision to leave the coalition were MKs Avi Dichter and Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich. 25 Kadima faction members favored breaking from the coalition.

Shamalov-Berkovich told Israel Radio she has no plans to leave the party, actually stressing she believes Shaul Mofaz belongs at the helm of the party but in this case, “he erred”.

“The Tal Law is too important to Am Yisrael and to my sorrow, Mofaz became prisoner to Yochanan Plesner and the political spinners” leading to the decision to leave, “which I believe was not the move to make”.

“The process was political, not historic and we must work to truly bring about the ‘sharing the burden’ issue”.

When asked if perhaps the party was better off with Tzipi Livni as leader, Shamalov-Berkovich said “without a doubt no”, stressing Livni simply does not have leadership qualities while Mofaz does.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)