Israeli national candidates to hold pre-election debate

The Citizens\' Empowerment Center in Israel (CECI) announced on Tuesday that it would hold a live televised debate among the leaders of the major political parties, ahead of the Jan. 22 national elections. Labor chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich, Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz and the leader of the new centrist Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, will take part in the debate, slated to take place at Tel Aviv University on Jan. 1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\'s bureau has yet to reply to the request, although sources close to the prime minister told the Ynet news website that Netanyahu will turn down the offer. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman gave his conditional consent to take part in the debate, but only if all other major party leaders attend, Netanyahu included. \"The Israeli public wants politicians to debate with one another,\" the CECI invitation said, in order to \"discover the vision of the parties and candidates, which increases transparency and ensures accountability of elected officials to voters.\" The upcoming elections were moved ahead from their original October 2013 date, as Netanyahu failed to gather a majority to pass his proposal for the 2013 budget, including cuts of NIS 14 billion (about 3.68 billion U.S. dollars) in ministries spending.