JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s opposition Labor party said Wednesday it is joining forces with a former government partner in a bid to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the country’s coming elections.
Labor leader Isaac Herzog announced the alliance with Tzipi Livni of the Hatnuah party amid a hard-hitting critique of Netanyahu’s free-market, pro-settler policies, which have seen increasing Israeli economic inequality and a breakdown of the peace process with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
“Six years of Netanyahu and there are still no answers,” Herzog said. “The time for change is now.”
Standing side-by-side with Livni under a banner proclaiming “Together We Win,” Herzog said that if he and the Hatnuah leader formed the next government, they would rotate as prime minister – Herzog for the first two years, Livini for the second two years.
Opinion polls give the joint Herzog-Livni list about 24 seats in the 120-seat Knesset – slightly more than their current total.