Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday, isru chag Shavuos in Eretz Yisrael will be meeting with Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid in an effort to bring his party and its 11 seats into the coalition. It appears the meeting will be more leisurely than official, with Yesh Atid officials signaling that if the Prime Minister actually makes an offer, Lapid will decline since the party is not interested in joining the coalition based on its current guidelines.
Clearly the Mr. Netanyahu is holding on to the Foreign Ministry portfolio to have something to entice one of the opposition parties with in the hope of increasing the coalition, which now rests on the most minimum possible margin of 61 seats, a one seat majority.
PM Netanyahu is also contacting MK Yitzchak Herzog in the hope of bringing the Labor party into the coalition with its 24 seats. However, it appears that at present, the Prime Minister’s best chance is with the Yisrael Beitenu party, which would add 6 seats to the coalition and permit Avigdor Lieberman to return to his former post of Foreign Minister.
There are rumors that Likud officials have contacted Yisrael Beitenu MKs Orli Levy-Abekasis and Sofia Landver in an effort to persuade them to break ranks and move to Likud. Landver would then receive her old position of Minister of Aliyah & Absorption. It is explained the goal here is to destroy the Yisrael Beitenu party and oust Lieberman from the political arena.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Is Netanyahu crazy???
Lapid destroyed the last gov’t with his charedi hatred -KEEP THE LOUDMOUTH OUT!
Netanyahu doesn’t like being blackmailed by the three religious parties.He wants to give them a bone but isn’t thrilled to have them make demands for a place at the table. Add more parties will facilitate keeping the small parties in line.
The religious must make it as clear day that the abyss between them and Lapid is more than personal or sectoral
IT IS ideological
therefore it is essentially unbridgeable ,unless Lapid does a complete turnabout
About Time: Chareidi parties have historically ignored ideological differences, as long as they get what they want.
Netanyahu himself can’t be trusted to keep his commitments and will do what’s best for him.