Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett (left) and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/Pool, Times of Israel
Jerusalem: Israel is likely to move into post Benjamin Netanyahu era, after President Reuven Rivlin reportedly tasked Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid with coalescing a coalition that could form a government, after Prime Minister Netanyahu failed to do so. Reports suggest that Lapid could announce that he has succeeded in bringing together a coalition by Tuesday. He has to formally inform the President about this by Wednesday.
Netanyahu is the longest serving Prime Minister of Israel but is expected to be sidelined following the coalition deal between Opposition parties.
Opposition parties said on May 31, 2021 while they were trying to form government with Yamina Party chief Naftali Bennett, Lapid told a Knesset faction meeting today that there were “plenty of obstacles” in the way of formation of the new government. Already the Yisrael Beytenu and Blue and White party leader and Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz has openly staked claim on the Agriculture Ministry in the prospective government.
“There are gaps and there are disagreements that need to be bridged,” Gantz said during the meeting, while pointing out that his party with eight seat was larger than other factions set to join the coalition.
“If it were dependent on my personal ambitions, there would be no ‘change government,’” he reportedly said, and added: “I gave up the Prime Minister’s Office. I could have been Prime Minister in the current government. If I had agreed [to Netanyahu’s offer] to be first in rotation for the next two and a half years, I would have been Prime Minister.”
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman subsequently criticised Gantz at a Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting, and wondered whether the latter’s “holy war for the agriculture portfolio is an excuse to dismantle the change bloc”.
Responding to such bitter faction wars within the Opposition ranks, Lapid said, “That’s our first test. To see if we can find smart compromises in the coming days to achieve the greater goal.” He though was quick to add that the country could see beginning of a “new era” within a week.
Blue and White later reiterated its support for the change bloc, stating, “We are committed to a change government and believe it will be formed in the coming hours”.
Lapid and other party heads had met following Bennett’s announcement on Sunday that he might form a government with the “change bloc” of anti-Netanyahu parties. “The prospective government, which would include centrist, right-wing and left-wing parties, would see Bennett serve first as Prime Minister for two years, after which Lapid would take over the role for another two,” the Times of Israel reported today.
According to the said report, Lapid also condemned Netanyahu’s speech on Sunday in which he spoke against the emerging government that would remove him from power. “If you want to know why we have to change the leadership in Israel, go and listen to Netanyahu’s speech. It was a dangerous and unhinged speech by someone who has no limits anymore,” he said. “That’s exactly why we must form the government we’re trying to form. A government of people from the right, left and center who say to the Israeli public — we know how to work together and we don’t hate one another.”
New Hope party leader Gideon Sa’ar, a former minister in Netanyahu’s Likud party, supported the emerging coalition and said at the Knesset that “Even now, it’s uncertain whether a government will be formed, but we are doing and will continue to do all we can to see it established.” Sa’ar said during a faction meeting.
Sa’ar had on Sunday refused the premier’s offer to be prime minister in a three-way rotation deal, saying it would have kept the incumbent in power in all but name.
He said “the incitement machine is working at full strength” to discredit the potential government even before it was established, and criticised Netanyahu for calling the “change government” as left-wing. “The left with Netanyahu — awesome. The left without Netanyahu — a threat,” he said sarcastically.
Lapid also noted that people wanted to kill Bennett as well as his number two in Yamina Party, Ayelet Shaked. There had been demonstrators outside Shaked’s home with demonstrators holding placards denouncing Yamna’s planned coalition with the centrist Yesh Atid and other parties that would end Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year prime ministership.
– global bihari bureau
