Israeli Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for emerging from a 50-day war in Gaza with “no real strategy” and said Israel should take advantage of an emerging moderate Arab coalition to try again to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Herzog, who is known in Israel by his nickname "Buji," made the comments on Sept. 9 at the Brookings Institution in his first major speech in the United States since his election as head of the Labor Party a year ago.

During the conflict in Gaza, Herzog — a political princeling and son of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog — took pains to support Israeli government policy against Hamas. But his speech in Washington signaled that the gloves have come off and that Herzog is making a bid to lead a new centrist coalition in Israeli politics.

“Our role is to replace the government,” not join it, he said, in the elections he predicted would come in 2015. If Netanyahu were to make a sincere effort to restart peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), Herzog said he would support him. “But I don’t see it happening,” he added, noting that Netanyahu has shifted rightward in the aftermath of the Gaza war in an effort to shore up his base.