The prospect of a new Labor-Likud coalition crisis escalated Tuesday when Premier Shimon Peres told the opening session of the Labor Party convention here that he intends to dismiss Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai.
He told the 3,000 delegates and visitors at the Binyanei Haooma, which included Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and other Likud ministers among the invited guests, that he considers remarks by Modai in newspaper interviews over the weekend to have been a premeditated and unpardonable attack on government policy. As quoted by the press they were disparaging to the Premier personally.
Peres reportedly informed Shamir two days ago of his intention to fire Modai, a Likud Liberal, and Shamir retorted that if he did, the unity coalition which has governed Israel for 19 months would be dissolved. Under the coalition agreement, the Prime Minister of one party cannot dismiss a Minister of the other party without the consent of the other party’s leader. Israeli law empowers the Premier to sack any Minister.
If Peres follows through with his threat he would be on firm legal ground but would have violated the coalition agreement. Shamir said in a radio interview Tuesday that there was indeed a crisis but he hoped it would eventually be resolved. Peres has indicated he will dismiss Modai at next Sunday’s Cabinet session if Modai does not resign first, and has demanded that Likud support his decision.
RECALLS AN EARLIER WARNING
Modai declared categorically Monday night that he has no intention of quitting and Likud is backing him. Peres, in his speech to the convention, recalled the warning he delivered to the Cabinet last November after he was attacked publicly by Minister of Commerce and Industry Ariel Sharon. Sharon issued an apology but Peres made it clear that uncollegial behavior by any Minister in the future would lead to his dismissal even if the coalition was endangered.
He said Modai had been warned over some foreign policy criticisms recently. He said his remarks published over the weekend were not a slip of the tongue but a deliberate attack on government policy. Economic recovery depends on a “real partnership… mutual confidence … and not the overweening pride of any individual,” Peres said.
Modai was quoted as calling Peres “a flying Prime Minister,” an implied criticism of his four-day visit to the U.S. last week and earlier trips abroad and trips planned in the future. He maintained that Peres had little to do with the successes of the economic austerity program.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
