Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman announced on Sunday that his party will be recommending Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid as the prime minister. “As we have previously said, we will be recommending the party leader from the ‘pro-change block’ with the most mandates as the candidate for forming the government,” Liberman wrote in a Facebook post. Liberman addressed the complex political situation that Israel has found itself in – having held four rounds of elections within two years – blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reaching this point. This situation “is the direct result of the political survival plan of one person – Benjamin Netanyahu, who has failed for the fourth time now to establish a stable and functional government,” he wrote.
המצב הפוליטי המורכב בו אנו נמצאים היום הוא תוצאה ישירה של תוכנית ההישרדות הפוליטית והאישית של איש אחד – בנימין נתניהו,…Posted by Avigdor Liberman – אביגדור ליברמן on Sunday, 28 March 2021
“Any person who cares about this country, would have reached the right conclusion a long time ago and would have handed over the reins to someone else,” he added.
if(window.location.pathname.indexOf(“656089”) != -1){console.log(“hedva connatix”);document.getElementsByClassName(“divConnatix”)[0].style.display =”none”;}Referring to Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial, Liberman promised voters that following the inauguration of the 24th Knesset, his party would submit a bill that would force a prime minister with a pending indictment to submit their resignation. Liberman noted that in 2008 such a bill had passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset with the support of the Likud and Netanyahu, as well as the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties. He also said that his party would submit a bill for limiting the tenure of a serving prime minister to two terms only, a bill that Netanyahu has supported in the past as well. Finally, Liberman called on all political parties that have aligned themselves in the “pro-change block” to put their egos aside and prevent a fifth round of elections, which currently seems like the most likely outcome. “Overcoming this political entanglement will happen by finding creative solutions and thinking outside the box,” Liberman concluded. Liberman has said that the country would become a “Khomeini-style state” if the right-wing, religious bloc wins the election. “My harsh words come as a reaction to the incitement that we’ve seen over the last month, with the ‘Reform are dogs’ ad, Pindrus’s shiksa comments, and the incitement in the haredi press where all immigrants from the former Soviet Union are depicted as non-Jews, drunks and Communists who go to church,” Liberman said at the time. “That is the image they incite.”Earlier Sunday, Lapid met with United Arab List (Ra’am) head Mansour Abbas to negotiate terms for a possibly historic entry into a Lapid-led government, or at least for a possible recommendation to form the next government. Later on Sunday, Lapid is expected to meet with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz in order to discuss a strategy for replacing Netanyahu and forming a new government.
Lapid has also met or spoken with the heads of Labor, New Hope and Meretz since the election and will be meeting in upcoming days with the heads of Blue and White, the Joint List and Ra’am in an effort to build up what MKs in those parties are calling “the change bloc.”
Also expressing a desire for change, New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar tweeted saying that “for the fourth time in two years Netanyahu has failed to achieve a majority of 61 in the Knesset.
“Without Netanyahu, it is possible to quickly and easily form a government. If Israel is more important to Netanyahu than his continued hold on control, he must finally conclude the patriotic conclusion. I call on Netanyahu: move aside, free Israel and allow the country to move forward.”
In a move some found surprising, Lapid retweeted Sa’ar’s message, adding “listen to Gideon.”
“There are meetings and discussions between everyone who is committed to change,” said Gantz in a video Friday. “There is no question of ego, until we change the leadership, until we replace Netanyahu, I will guard Israel from outside [the country] and I will guard Israel’s democracy and safety from inside the government.”
Rumors have circulated this week of a possible “national healing government” comprising the 52 mandates of Yesh Atid (17 seats), Blue and White (8), Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu and Labor (7 seats each) and New Hope (6) with outside support from the Arab parties (10) and Meretz (6) for an effective coalition of 68 seats. This coalition would be led by Bennett and Lapid who would rotate, and last for one year, Israeli media reported.
Even without the Arab Joint List (6), there would still be a 62-seat coalition, with Meretz and Ra’am (4), the other Arab party that split from the Joint List and barely made it into the Knesset, supporting from the outside.
Yamina head Naftali Bennett said on Friday that he spoke with the heads of Labor, Likud, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Likud, Religious Zionism, New Hope, Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Meretz and Yisrael Beytenu in the past two days.
In talks, Bennett emphasized the need to “act responsibly to bring Israel out of chaos.”
Gil Hoffman, Jeremy Sharon and Idan Zonshine contributed to this report.
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