With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s four-week mandate to form a government half over and no coalition in sight, his closest associates told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday night that he will still find a way to build a coalition by the May 4 deadline.
“There should still be hope among those who want Netanyahu to remain prime minister,” said a close Netanyahu associate. “He has pulled it off many times in the past.”
While his associates promised creative solutions, the two known ways for Netanyahu to form a government took a step backward on Sunday. New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar mocked Netanyahu’s handling of the security cabinet, while Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich wrote that he would prefer a fifth election or an anti-Netanyahu coalition that includes Arab MKs to a Netanyahu-led government backed by the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party.
“Even a fifth election is much more preferable than suicide,” he wrote on Twitter. “Even the strange combination that I did not think could be formed [is preferable]. And if it will be, it will last a few months and collapse – and then the Right will come back big time. [This] is better than destroying the Right and Zionism.”
After weeks of insults from Smotrich and Religious Zionist Party MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, Ra’am MK Waleed Taha struck back, calling them “cursed, dark, racist, scum of the human species,” and questioned how Israel would act if such people were elected in Europe. Ben-Gvir responded that Taha was a terrorist who belongs in prison or in the Gaza Strip.
In a video message on Sunday night, Netanyahu urged Sa’ar and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett to join his government. Without a breakthrough with either New Hope or the Religious Zionist Party, possible solutions for Netanyahu include initiating a direct election for prime minister, running for president, or letting someone in Likud lead the party until after his trial. KAN reported that Finance Minister Israel Katz said in a private conversation that it should be him.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said on Sunday that he would be very surprised if President Reuven Rivlin does not give him a mandate to form a government after Netanyahu fails to build a coalition by May 4.
Speaking at a Tel Aviv news conference, Lapid said Israel cannot afford a fifth election and needs a government, which he intends to form with Bennett.
“We have to restore trust between the public and its leaders,” he said. “We have to form a government that will unite us: not a right-wing government, not a left-wing government, but an Israeli unity government. In the past two years Israeli politics has created only hate and anger. It saw the wounds in Israeli society and picked at them. Our role is to heal those wounds.”
Lapid said the unity government would have three right-wing parties, two centrist parties and two left-wing parties. He revealed that since the election, he has been in close contact with all the relevant party leaders, and said a government of “Zionists and patriots” could be built three weeks from now.
“The leaders of the parties in the Israeli unity government won’t cheat one another,” he vowed. “It will be a government of stability because we want it to succeed. Because we believe in a shared goal.”
Asked about cooperation with Arab parties, he said his goal is to help all citizens of Israel, including Arabs, and that the requests of the Arab parties were legitimate. When asked about Shas and United Torah Judaism, he said he ruled out only “the Kahanists,” a reference to Ben-Gvir. He vowed to help the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) even if they won’t be part of his government.
Bennett met on Sunday with Shas leader Arye Deri and discussed possible ways to form a government. Yamina’s votes are key on Monday, when the Knesset will decide the framework for the powerful Arrangements Committee that runs the Knesset until a government is formed.
The vote was set to take place last Monday, but coalition chairman Miki Zohar postponed it, because he did not have a majority for the framework he wanted.
Zohar, who will head the Arrangements Committee because Netanyahu was given the mandate to form the government, wants one representative on the committee for every five seats in a Knesset faction. The anti-Netanyahu bloc wants there to be one for every four seats.
Yamina, which will cast the deciding vote, refused to vote for Zohar’s proposal last week. The party prefers the anti-Netanyahu bloc’s proposal but would rather remain on the fence, not taking one side or another.
The vote cannot be postponed again, because until the Arrangements Committee is formed, it cannot form temporary Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense and Finance committees, which provide oversight over the government on key issues. The committee also appoints the deputy Knesset speakers that are necessary to formally initiate the race for president and set a date for the race that must be held no later than June 9.
KAN reported on Sunday afternoon that Yamina had decided to vote for the anti-Netanyahu bloc’s proposal. A Yamina spokesman denied the report and said no decision had been made.
“We expect Yamina to support our proposal, which will maintain the power of the Right and gives Yamina the right to veto any decision,” Netanyahu said. “There is no reason to join with the Left, not on this issue and not on any other.”