Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a point of meeting the leaders of his political camp on Thursday, a day after President Reuven Rivlin granted a mandate to form a government to Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
Right bloc leaders vowed to go to the opposition rather than join a government led by Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett. They urged Bennett to shun Lapid and instead form a government with them when Lapid’s four week mandate ends.
Shas leader Arye Deri and United Torah Judaism heads Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Litzman attended the meeting. Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich was invited but missed the meeting due to a medical issue.Early Thursday morning, rebel Yamina MK Amichai Chikli said that he will vote against the “Formation of a government together with the Joint List and Meretz, just as we pledged to the electorate.”
Number five on Yamina’s seven-person list, Chikli came out against a Bennett-Lapid power-sharing coalition government on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Yamina MK Abir Kara attacked Netanyahu’s failed attempt at forming a government and progressing his proposals, in a letter on Thursday.
“You failed to deal with the self-employed and small businesses; you failed to form a government. Instead of engaging in the formation of a right-wing government, you dealt with personal insults against Naftali Bennett.”
He called Netanyahu out on his “tricks” over the past two years that did not succeed in forming a government in the end.
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Likud responded in a statement saying that “Netanyahu never promised Abir Kara anything. This is a ridiculous spin of the truth by Bennett designed to divert attention from the fact that he is running to the left-wing government with Meretz and Labor – despite
promises he made to his voters.”
promises he made to his voters.”
Hadassah Brenner and Celia Jean contributed to this report.
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