Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s efforts to build a broad national unity
government suffered multiple setbacks on Monday when his potential coalition
partners refused to compromise on key issues.
The first setback occurred
when Netanyahu
met Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett at the Prime Minister’s
Office in Tel Aviv. While both sides declined to reveal what was discussed at
the meeting, both said afterward that Bayit Yehudi would continue coordinating
coalition strategy with Yesh Atid.
Netanyahu had wanted to break the
unwritten understanding between Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid, in which neither
party would join the coalition without the other.