国际英语新闻:Fired Israeli minister slams Netanyahu for being "out of touch"

JERUSALEM, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who was fired and rebuked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lashed out at Netanyahu on Wednesday, saying Netanyahu was "out of touch."

In a press briefing held in Tel Aviv Wednesday evening, Lapid said the Prime Minister "is out of touch and self-involved. No one else but him is interested in going to elections."

"Prime minister," Lapid said, "you have no idea what the elections would do to the citizens, because you haven't known them and what's on their mind for a long while. You just told the public that you'd rather shut down the economy and spend billions of shekels."

Experts estimate the early elections set to take place on March 17 will cost about two billion shekels (half a billion U.S. dollars), and will paralyze the country as no budget has been passed by the Knesset (parliament) for 2015.

He added that the prime minister is wrong by assuming he will keep his position following the upcoming elections. "The prime minister has made a mistake and will not establish the next government," Lapid said.

Responding directly to accusations by Netanyahu that he and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who Netanyahu also fired, were undermining his leadership from within the government, he called the press appearance by Netanyahu on Tuesday "haunted and terrified" and said Netanyahu was the one who tried to make political deals and overthrow Lapid's party from the government.

"You closed a deal with the ultra-Orthodox, you made them promises and then you complain there was a coup d'état against you which never took place. It's not just out of touch, it's living in fantasy land," he added.

The minister also slammed Netanyahu for hurting Israel's relationship with United States, which some experts say is at an all-time low, and for not giving peace efforts with the Palestinians a standing chance.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said the center-left ministers were undermining his authority and the government and said he is no longer able to lead the country and supports early elections, two years after the previous ones took place.

Knesset members voted in favor of dispersing the Knesset on Wednesday in an initial round of votes with 84 members voting for it and no one voting against it. The final rounds of voting are set to take place on Monday.

The problems in the coalition stem from harsh disagreements between the hardline right and the center-left factions on matters of nationalist legislation, the handling of the escalating security situation, the collapse of the peace talks with the Palestinians and Israel's diplomatic isolation across the world, as well as the 2015 budget.

Netanyahu's critics say he had chosen to "break to the right" in order to get the support of hardline members of his party in the upcoming internal elections and keep his position as the chairman.