国际英语新闻：Israel's Likud ministers slam PM over price hikes

JERUSALEM, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Rallying behind an Israeli public outraged at recent economic decrees, Likud ministers and lawmakers lambasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for turning a blind eye to the people's growing despair, Israeli media reported Tuesday.

Criticism of the economic policy led by Netanyahu and Steinitz scaled up last week, when the price of fuel was set at 7.26 shekels (1.9 U.S. dollars) per liter, a 13 percent rise over the past year.

The recent raising of interest rate by Central Bank Commissioner Stanley Fischer was followed by an inevitable rise in monthly mortgage payments. The cost of basic food items has also spiraled during 2010, and is expected to rise even further this year. The cost of cellular services and municipal property taxes are also slated to climb in the coming months.

In private discussions held in recent days, Likud ministers reportedly claimed that Steinitz's economic policy, which receives Netanyahu's full backing, would ultimately backfire at the ballot boxes in 2013.

"We'll return to being a party of 12 mandates," Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot on Tuesday quoted Likud officials as saying.

Bowing to the growing criticism, Netanyahu on Monday convened a special meeting of Likud's faction in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, to discuss the rising cost of fuel.

Netanyahu and Steinitz were reportedly "shocked" at the onslaught of Likud lawmakers, who blamed them of disregarding the public outcry.

"If you continue along this path, you will no longer be the premier," Member of Knesset Haim Katz, who chairs the legislature' s Labor and Welfare Committee, told Netanyahu.

"The public has grown tired, perhaps has even begun to hate ( this government)," said MK Carmel Shama, who heads the Knesset Finance Committee, according to the report.

Netanyahu dismissed the critique against him and Steinitz as " cheap populism," saying he would weigh steps meant to ease the burden on the public in a "responsible and reasoned manner."