Likud must oust Netanyahu to save right-wing coalition – settler chief

The Likud Party must remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so that it can ensure Israel has a stable right-wing government, Yesha Council head David Elhayani told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.

“Bibi should step down, and the Likud should replace him,” he said. That would be the best option to end the political stalemate, which might send Israel to its fifth election within three years, he added.

New Hope Party head Gideon Sa’ar and Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich are under pressure to join a Netanyahu-led coalition or risk imperiling a right-wing government.

Elhayani, who broke with Netanyahu when he failed to make good on his pledge to annex West Bank settlements, said it was misguided to shine the spotlight on Sa’ar or Smotrich when the fate of a right-wing government rests solely with the Likud.

The path to a 65-member right-wing coalition is with Likud’s 30 mandates, Shas’s nine, United Torah Judaism’s seven, Yamina’s seven, New Hope’s six and Religious Zionist Party’s six, he said.

“The Likud should continue to lead, just without Bibi [Netanyahu],” Elhayani said. Otherwise, the Likud could find itself in the opposition, he added.

Netanyahu is caught in a political Gordian knot that threatens to bring his 12 consecutive years as prime minister to an end.

During the election campaign, Sa’ar promised not to join a Netanyahu-led government. He has held to that pledge, even though his absence leaves Netanyahu with 59 mandates, two short of the necessary 61.

“Gideon promised his voters that he would not sit under Netanyahu, and I am not even going into whether it was good or bad to that,” Elhayani said. “But the moment he said it, he was bound to it.”

During the last election, Elhayani broke his long-standing support for the Likud and endorsed New Hope, a decision he stands by.

“It is important for a politician to maintain political integrity,” Elhayani said.

“A politician who promises something has to stand by his word,” he said, adding that this was particularly true given that Netanyahu has shown how little his own promises were worth.

Netanyahu’s proposal to circumvent the damage done by Sa’ar is to create a 59-member coalition with external support from the Ra’am Party (United Arab List).

Smotrich has said he has no intention of joining a coalition dependent on an Arab-Israeli party. His position likely dooms Netanyahu’s chances of forming a right-wing coalition.

“Smotrich is correct to take that position,” Elhayani said. “No right-wing government can be dependent on a party like Ra’am.”

“Any party that does so can no longer be considered a right-wing party,” he said.

For these reasons, the fate of the Right now rests with the Likud, Elhayani said.