Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on right-wing parties on Wednesday to join him in a governing coalition, in his first speech since elections last week.
The vote, Israel’s fourth in two years, delivered the veteran premier’s Likud 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, making it the biggest party — but a majority of 61 is required to form a government.
Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, faces a bloc of 57 lawmakers led by centrist part Yesh Atid, who are seeking to end his record-breaking 12 years in power.
Inviting Arab parties into an anti-Netanyahu government would break a taboo and make it easier to form coalitions in the future https://t.co/oGIYaMhucu
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) April 1, 2021
Both camps are short of an overall majority, and Netanyahu is reaching out to small, undeclared parties which could take his government over the line.
In a brief televised address on Wednesday, Netanyahu insisted that “the people have given a majority to the right, with 65 seats” and urged undecided right-wing leaders to “come back home” and join a coalition.
“Let’s put our differences aside to form, together, a stable government of the right, as the people want,” he said.
The hard-right Yamina party of Naftali Bennett, with seven seats, could potentially join the six lawmakers of the New Hope party of Gideon Saar to help the premier form a majority. He is due to be holding talks with Netanyahu on Friday attended by Yesh Atid leader leader Yair Lapid. The Jerusalem Post reports that Lapid is said to be willing to offer Bennett to go first in a rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office. Netanyahu will offer him a merger with Likud and reserved slots on the Likud list.
Both Bennett and Saar are former Netanyahu allies.
Saar has repeatedly ruled out joining a Netanyahu administration, tweeting again on Wednesday that he would “neither join nor support a government led by Netanyahu”.
Bennett has yet to say whether he would join a government led by his former boss.
Yamina said in a statement Wednesday that Bennett would “make every effort to form a stable government to save Israel from chaos”.
Israel election: The far-right is triumphant. The only obstacle left is Netanyahu | Jonathan Cookhttps://t.co/tOOCTA68ci pic.twitter.com/z9aiMPF7kz
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) March 29, 2021
The political horse-trading seems far from over. The Post has also reported that The Yesh Atid leader met with Joint List heads Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi on Thursday and discussed ways to form a new government that would prevent Netanyahu from building a coalition with Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich and Arab MPs.
“The three discussed a range of painful issues affecting the Arab community, especially the scourge of violence, and possible solutions,” a Yesh Atid spokesman said. “They agreed to continue discussions to explore the options available to change both the current government and Netanyahu’s policies, and to bring about real change.”
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin said Monday he would pick a candidate by April 7 to form the next government.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
