As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s chances of forming a government seem further and further away, extensive negotiations are being held between Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar with Yair Lapid and other center-left party leaders to form a national-unity government. And despite the fact that Charedi MKs have said they will only sit in a government headed by Netanyahu, talks between the anti-Netanyahu bloc and the Chareidi parties are taking place on a daily basis.

In particular, Yamina’s number two Ayelet Shaked has been meeting with Chareidi MKs for weeks, in a bid to garner their support instead of Arab parties.

According to a B’Chadrei Chareidim report, an enticing offer has been made to the Chareidi parties to join the national unity government, with a promise that anti-Chareidi Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman will be not included in the government. Furthermore, Chareidi MKs will be granted senior ministerial positions in a number similar to what they currently hold.

A national-unity government with the Charedi parties and Betzalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, headed by Naftali Bennett, can be formed even without the support of the left-wing Meretz party, with a narrow majority of 61 MKs, and if the Labor party agrees to join, with 68 MKs.

According to the report, the Chareidi representatives have not yet given an answer to the proposal.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)