Peretz: Read my shaven lip- No coalition with Netanyahu
By GIL HOFFMANAmir Peretz(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Labor leader Amir Peretz traded his trademark mustache for a clean shaven upper lip on Sunday night in an effort to attract attention amid his poor showing in the polls and to rule out entering a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Peretz surprised the public by shaving the mustache for the first time in 47 years ahead of an interview with Channel 12 on Sunday night. He said he shaved because he wanted to make sure everyone could read his lips, as he denied that he had signed a coalition agreement with Netanyahu.“Labor-Gesher will not sit together with Netanyahu at any price,” said Peretz, who called Netanyahu “a capitalist pig” and vowed to remain clean shaven until after the election.In a poll published in Friday’s Israel Hayom newspaper, the combined Labor-Gesher list was predicted to win only four seats, after Peretz promised 15 when he made a deal with Gesher leader Orly Levy-Abecassis.Peretz attributed his downturn in the polls to false information spread by Likud about Labor-Gesher being an integral part of the next coalition Netanyahu would form if he receives a mandate from President Reuven Rivlin.Likud MK David Bitan, who is close to Netanyahu, has been saying repeatedly that Labor-Gesher would join the coalition.“Labor has socioeconomic plans that cost millions,” he said. “They cannot implement them from outside the government, so I think they will totally want to join after we form a coalition with our partners.”Peretz complained that in his political camp, people “bought the political spin of the Likud.”Likud MK Ariel Kallner released a statement on Monday, mocking Peretz for “a first-grade style gimmick in a desperate attempt at attention from the press.”
