Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Yamina president Naftali Bennett came to “breakthrough” in their discussions about forming a joint government to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, public broadcaster Kan reported. on Sunday night.
According to several reports in the Hebrew media without sources, Lapid agreed to allow Bennett to act as prime minister first, in a potential power-sharing agreement between them, during the negotiations on Saturday night.
The meeting, the first between the two party leaders since the March 23 national election, followed Bennett’s meeting on Friday with Netanyahu.
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According to Kan, Lapid told close associates after that meeting that “there are significant developments in conversations with Bennett and I estimate that we will be able to form a coalition with him”.
Lapid is said to have said that Bennett does not trust Netanyahu’s promises, and that “the ultra-Orthodox will adhere to [our coalition] immediately after being formed. ”The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and the Shas parties are Netanyahu’s loyal allies and have clashed with Lapid because of their position in military recruitment.
The proposed power-sharing government between Lapid and Bennett would be small, with a maximum of 18 ministers: nine for right-wing Bennett, centrist Benny Gantz of Blue and White and right-wing Gideon Sa’ar of New Hope on one side, and nine to Lapid and others from the center left, news from Canal 12.
According to Kan, Bennett had “anything but” agreed to the proposal.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and his wife Gilat, on the right, arrive to take their ballots during the elections at a polling station in Raanana on March 23, 2021. (Gili Yaari / Flash90)
Channel 12, however, said Bennett is still deciding whether he wants to be prime minister in such a government or support Netanyahu and is likely to go to a fifth election, as the Likud leader does not appear to have any way to form a coalition.
Bennett avoided supporting Netanyahu or the prime minister’s rivals after the inconclusive election, Israel’s fourth in two years, positioning him as a potential kingmaker after his right-wing Yamina party won seven seats.
Both blocs seem to need the support of Yamina and the Islamic Ra’am party to secure the majority. Ra’am, the smallest party in the next Knesset with four seats, said he had not decided who he would support as prime minister after a party meeting on Saturday.
According to a separate Channel 12 report, citing allies of Chief Yamina, Bennett would prefer a far-right government led by Netanyahu, but that does not seem possible at the moment. His second choice would be a right-wing government led by Netanyahu with external support from the Islamic Arab Ra’am party, but this was dismissed by Bezalel Smotrich from religious Zionism. His third choice would be a partnership with Lapid and the center-left, in which Bennett himself serves as prime minister. The report said that Bennett prefers a government with Lapid to a fifth election.
A Channel 13 report said that a decision by Bennett to agree to a deal with Lapid could lead most of the center-left parties to recommend Bennett as prime minister when they meet with President Reuven Rivlin on Monday to nominate one. candidate to form a governing coalition.
The parties elected to the Knesset will meet with Rivlin on Monday to give his recommendations to the prime minister. Rivlin is due to announce on Wednesday which candidate will receive a mandate to try to form a government.
In addition to Yamina and Ra’am, Sa’ar’s New Hope has not yet announced which candidate it will support on Monday, but has ruled out Netanyahu and Lapid.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) participates in the Moroccan Jewish celebration of Mimouna at the home of Osnat Mark (R) in Ma’ale Adumim on April 3, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
The anti-Netanyahu block of Yesh Atid (17 chairs), Blue and White (8), Labor (7), Yisrael Beytenu (7), Joint List (6), Meretz (6) and New Hope (6) won 57 of the 120 Knesset seats in total, and it would need all four Ra’am lawmakers to support its coalition in order to have a majority in the Knesset, or the support of the right-wing Yamina.
The pro-Netanyahu bloc of Likud (30), Shas (9), UTJ (7) and Religious Zionism (6) will need Yamina’s support. But that would give him only 59 seats in total, unless it depends on the support of the Islamic Ra’am.
Smotrich begs Bennett; Sa’ar rules out supporting Netanyahu
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday night, Smotrich of religious Zionism urged Bennett to recommend Netanyahu to the next government when he meets Rivlin.
He warned that “any recommendation you make tomorrow that is not for Netanyahu will take us closer with big steps towards a left-wing government.”
Calling Bennett “my true friend,” Smotrich says he is “afraid that the bear hug on the left is blinding you.
“If you recommend yourself [for prime minister] you yourself will cause the fall of a right-wing government and the formation of a left-wing government, ”said the leader of extreme right religious Zionism, about the possibility of Bennett seeking to form the coalition.
Head of religious Zionism, MK Bezalel Smotrich in Modiin, March 23, 2021. (Sraya Diamant / Flash90)
At a separate live event, Sa’ar – a former Likud minister who left the party to form New Hope – once again ruled out endorsing Netanyahu for premier.
“I said clearly during the election that whoever Netanyahu stays should not vote for me … I said very clearly, every day, all day … I repeat again: We are not going to join or support a government led by Netanyahu” said Sa’ar, whose party won six seats.
The New Hope leader said he wants to “form a government of change that reconnects our people. We want a government that brings back the values of telling the truth, honesty and integrity … Not a government that is enslaved to the tapestry of interests at the Netanyahu trial. “
From left to right: Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid (Miriam Alster / Flash90); Naftali Bennett, head of the Yamina party; and the head of the New Hope party, Gideon Sa’ar (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Channel 12 reported on Saturday that Rivlin will likely ask party leaders with whom they will refuse to sit in a coalition. Sixty-seven lawmakers will not refuse to partner with Bennett, 66 for Lapid and 63 for Netanyahu, the network said, although it is unclear what Rivlin will decide to do with this information.
President Reuven Rivlin speaks during the ceremony to receive the official results of the election, at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on March 31, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Channel 13 said Netanyahu told Bennett at his meeting on Friday that if Yamina supports him as prime minister, he will receive 59 recommendations, which will be enough to secure Rivlin’s nomination, as he said Sa’ar , from the Nova Esperança party, will abstain, and possibly Ra’am as well.
Netanyahu also offered Bennett a rotating deal to become prime minister after a year or 18 months, and for Yamina’s faction to be absorbed by Netanyahu’s Likud party, Channel 12 reported. Likud denied that Netanyahu offered Bennett a rotation agreement.
The Times of Israel team contributed to this report.