Shas party chairman, Minister Aryeh Deri, and MK (New Right) Naftali Bennet are working to divide the leadership of the Blue & White party, realizing a deal can be made to form a coalition government with the party’s leader, MK Benny Gantz, while excluding the second man on the list, MK Yair Lapid. They are aware that at present, coalition efforts are deadlocked, and if there is a possibility of negotiating with Gantz to the exclusion of Lapid, there is a possibility of forming a coalition with Blue & White, Likud, the religious and chareidi parties. This would mean Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party would be excluded from the coalition, as Lapid has been placed in cherem by the chareidi parties.
According to a report in the daily Maariv, persons involved in the ongoing efforts report the two are working in earnest to close the existing gap between Gantz and Netanyahu.
The report adds, quoting the sources in the know, the efforts surround their plan to break the partnership between Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and Gantz’s Blue & White party in the hope of forming a coalition government.
Towards achieving this goal, Naftali Bennet on motzei Yomtov launched a harsh criticism of the way the political community has been acting regarding coalition efforts, insisting if something does not change, the nation will face yet a third Knesset election.
“Crazy! Get down from the high tree!” he exclaimed. Bennet calls the current reality “irresponsible” and warns if party leaders do not change their current positions, the nation will be heading to elections, as clearly, under current realities, forming a coalition government is not a realistic possibility. He is calling for the formation of a broad-based national unity coalition government headed by both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and MK Benny Gantz, as the two would rotate the premiership.
“There would not be pro-religious or anti-religious legislation. There will not be any ideological breakthroughs for the left-wing or right-wing. The government will deal with realities regarding Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, lowering the national debt, the condition in the nation’s hospitals, road congestion, strengthening education and life itself”, Bennet added.
In his words, “There are politicians who view the State of Israel as a game. This is not a game. This is our lives, and that of our children. It is truly like this. Evette (Avigdor) Lieberman has already dragged us to needless elections, as he does not have a problem doing this to us again, elections for a third time. Other players are also exhibiting similar irresponsibility”.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
soon the mandate goes to gantz; he will split off a part of the likkud and become PM. Deri has a chance to finish shas again butin jail. and bennet can talk about one state with his neighbors.
bibi will soon be indicted and the game is over. gantz was brilliant letting the crook go first