Lubavitcher Rebbe to 'Post': No unity government for Israel

The Rebbe responded that it should be a narrow government in order to be a strong government. "Yeah, and take care of the real problems," added Levy.

Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (photo credit: MORDECAI BARON/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson
(photo credit: MORDECAI BARON/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, told the former editor of The Jerusalem Post, Yehuda Levy, in 1990 that he believed that Israel needs a narrow government.
Speaking to him during a visit, Levy asked the Rebbe to do something so that there will be a strong government in Israel quickly.
The Rebbe responded that it should be a narrow government in order to be a strong government. 
"Yeah, and take care of the real problems," Levy responded.
The former Post editor presented the Rebbe with a Kaufman Haggadah, the book used during the Passover holiday meal, and the Rebbe blessed him to bring good news not only from Jerusalem, but also "Yerushalayim (Jerusalem in Hebrew), the holy city."
The Rebbe also expressed hopes that he would visit Jerusalem with the Messiah soon and that the Jerusalem Post would announce the visit.
Levy visited the Rebbe in New York in June 1990 after the national unity government was forced to resign in a no-confidence motion presented by Alignment (Labor) MK Shimon Peres in March 1990. Peres proceeded to try and fail to form a narrow left-wing government and a narrow right-wing government was formed by former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir soon after Levy visited the Rebbe, according to the Knesset website.
From 1984 to 1990, Israel had been led by a national unity government between prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir (Likud) and Shimon Peres (Labor/Alignment) who agreed on a rotation, with each serving two years, according to the Knesset's website. The unity government was formed after elections that resulted in equally sized right-wing and left-wing blocs, making it so that both blocs were unable to form a majority government.
Some 97 of the 120 members of Knesset were part of the unity government, so adjustments had to be made to the Knesset Rules of Procedures in order to allow the opposition to function properly.
A 10 seat inner cabinet was also formed and divided equally between the Likud and Labor parties to allow each to block the initiative of the other, if necessary, according to the Washington Institute  The government addressed many security and economic issues and managed to last the complete four-year term.
Both Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have proposed a national unity government to solve the current political stalemate, but both have so far failed to form one. President Reuven Rivlin gave the Knesset the responsibility to grant the mandate to form a government to any of the 120 members of Knesset or to go to elections, after both Netanyahu and Gantz were granted the mandate and failed to form a government.