A veteran Israeli politician announced Tuesday that he intends to establish a new centrist political party.

Once a Labor party stalwart, Haim Ramon, who later was one of the founders of the centrist Kadima party and also served as the Justice Minister, said the new party will target unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We need an alternative to replace Netanyahu," Ramon told Army radio, who did not offer a name for the new faction.

"When Kadima joined the government it forfeited its role and ceased being an alternative to the government," he added, criticizing the party's enrollment in Netanyahu's coalition.

Ramon left Kadima, a long time opposition, in May over the new party chief Shaul Mofaz's decision to join Netanyahu's coalition government.

A number of politically savvy Israeli media outlets are suggesting the party will be the new political home for Kadima's former head, Tzipi Livni, who quit the faction after losing the chairmanship to Mofaz on March 27.

Ramon has been a part of the Israeli political system for the past few decades. His name was tarnished, however, after being convicted in 2007 for an incident involving a female soldier and an inappropriate kiss.

Ramon will probably not head the party, which is likely to compete with Kadima over the centrist party ticket.

"The new party will be free of Kadima's mistakes," according to Ramon, who added that "We all have to draw our own conclusions and learn from our mistakes."

This announcement comes amid reports of the coalition crisis over a new draft bill to include ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs in the army.

The Tal Law, which was legislated more than a decade ago, enabled ultra-Orthodox to avoid mandatory military service, to the dismay of many in the Israeli public.

After the Supreme Court disqualified the law in February, the government was tasked with finding an alternative to regulate the draft, a move that engendered political havoc.

Vice Prime Minister and Kadima chief Mofaz on Monday threatened to leave the coalition over Netanyahu's decision to dissolve Plessner committee, a Kadima-led committee overseeing the bill's drafting.

Mofaz promised his constituents when he joined the Likud-led unity government that the legislation topped Kadima's agenda.

"Kadima will continue to stand behind its obligation to the public and demand the committee publishes its recommendation as planned on Wednesday," Mofaz told local media.

The same day Mofaz told President Shimon Peres that "Kadima will not compromise on the principle of universal service. If that principle is violated, it will be a fundamental violation of the national unity agreement -- with the inherent consequences," according to the Times of Israel.

Meanwhile, two Kadima Knesset (parliament) members announced Tuesday they were leaving the coalition and acting independently over the dismantling of the Plessner committee, and urged party colleagues to follow their lead.

"Starting tomorrow morning, I see myself a member of the opposition, voting against the government," Shlomo Molla said.

"The prime minister trampled Kadima's dignity and made the committee irrelevant, choosing to collaborate with the ultra- Orthodox and the settlers," he told The Jerusalem Post.