ISRAELI RIGHT WING PARTY YAMINA ANNOUNCES PLAN TO OUST NETANYAHU

Sun 30 May 2021:

The chairman of the Israeli right-wing Yamina party, Naftali Bennett, on Sunday announced his intention to work for the formation of the government with Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party.

Bennett, who called Lapid his “friend”, in the speech accused Netanyahu of lying when he says he can form a right wing government with 61 members of the legislature.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin gave Lapid a mandate to form a coalition government following the results of the Knesset elections. The president noted that it can be either a government that Lapid will lead as the prime minister or a government headed by another lawmaker with Lapid serving as an alternative prime minister.

“I intend to act with all my might to establish a government of national unity together with Yair Lapid,” Benet said in a statement broadcast by Israeli tv channels.

Naftali Bennett, said in a speech Sunday he’ll do everything in his power to form a unity government with opposition leader Yair Lapid “to get the country back on the right track.”

Netanyahu gave a statement shortly after Bennett’s speech, calling him a liar and “the con artist of the century.” He called on right wing voters to put pressure on the members of Knesset from Bennett’s party so that they don’t vote in favor of the new government.

The most recent parliamentary elections in Israel were won by Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, Likud, that garnered 30 out of 120 seats. In early May, Netanyahu’s mandate to form a government expired, as the task was given to him by Rivlin in early April, while the country’s law gives 28 days to hold coalition-building negotiations.

According to the rules, the party that wins the most votes has to win the support of at least 61 lawmakers of 120. If they don’t succeed in doing so, the 24th convocation may be dissolved as well, while a new election may be scheduled for fall.

The failure to form a sustainable government has led to four parliamentary elections in the past two years.

Under Israel’s electoral system of proportional representation, it is difficult for a single party to gain enough seats to form a government outright. Smaller parties are usually needed to make up the numbers needed for a coalition.

Lapid was initially given a 28-day mandate to form a government, but this was interrupted by the recent 11-day conflict in Gaza.

One of his potential coalition partners, the Arab Islamist Raam party, broke off talks because of the violence. There were also clashes in Israeli cities between mixed Arab and Jewish populations.

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