Heads of the Chareidi parties of Shas and UTJ, Aryeh Deri together with Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Litzman, met together with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday and Wednesday, and told him that they would not commit themselves to joining together with the Likud should a fifth election come about.

The meetings, which took place after Netanyahu received the mandate from President Rivlin to form a national government, marked the first time since the first election in 2019, where the Chareidi parties were not wholeheartedly committed to joining with Netanyahu’s Likud to form the government.

According to Israeli law, Netanyahu has 27 days after receiving the mandate to form a coalition over which he would preside and get it approved by the Knesset. From a political standpoint, it appears that he has little chance of success in accomplishing this mission.

In spite of offering wide-ranging promises to other right-wing parties, Netanyahu has not had much success as of yet, in convincing enough MKs to support a government that he would lead. Mathematically, the way things are currently after the recent election on March 23rd, there is no classic bloc of parties that are willing to sit together that would have enough seats in the Knesset to form a government.

The two parties, who helped Netanyahu secure the mandate from President Rivlin, Shas and UTJ, who have gone through three elections already hand-in-hand partners with Netanyahu, have notified the Prime Minister, that their guaranteed support, will no longer be guaranteed should a fifth round of elections come about. Especially not if there would be an option to have a government with Bennett, Gantz, and Saar.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)