Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Netanyahu: Opposition`s no-confidence vote when gov`t is in Germany unacceptable

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the opposition on Wednesday of submitting a no-confidence motion against the government on the same day in which Israel and Germany held a historic joint cabinet session in Berlin.

Netanyahu said the timing of the opposition's parliamentary motion was "inappropriate," a statement which elicited furious catcalls from lawmakers of Kadima, the largest faction that is not participating in the premier's center-right coalition.

At the opening of his remarks, Netanyahu spoke of the cabinet ministers' trip to Berlin on Sunday. The premier held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and took a tour of a memorial situated near the Brandenburg Gate in honor of European Jewry murdered during the Holocaust.


Kadima MKs were enraged at Netanyahu's invoking of the Holocaust in the parliamentary debate. "Have you no shame?" MK Yohanan Plesner asked rhetorically.

Netanyahu said he was "moved" by the joint session, which was held "within touching distance of Hitler's bunker."