Benjamin Netanyahu invites Avigdor Liberman to join coalition

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman to join the government he is forming, in a meeting Thursday morning at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu told his former aide and ally and current political nemesis that he should join as soon as possible in order to contribute to the formation of a unity government.

But Netanyahu’s spokesman said there did not end up being a breakthrough in the meeting.

Liberman released a statement after the meeting saying that he urged Netanyahu to have Likud, Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu meet to decide the next government’s guidelines on policy and only then deal with distributing portfolios and who should go first in a rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office.  

Following the meeting, Netanyahu went to update the heads of the right-wing and religious parties in his political bloc.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz has refused to meet with Netanyahu until he abandons the bloc.

If no progress is made toward building a coalition in upcoming days, Netanyahu is expected to return his mandate to form a government to President Reuven Rivlin. Netanyahu will meet with Rivlin at the Knesset on Thursday.