Benjamin Netanyahu invites Avigdor Liberman to join coalition
The PM's spokesman said there did not end up being a breakthrough in the meeting.
By GIL HOFFMANYisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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. "I am making a major effort to form a broad unity government," Netanyahu told the Likud faction. "This is what the voters decided, and this is what is right. This should be taken for granted."Following the meeting with Liberman, 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. Netanyahu accused him of "running away" and "trying to change the democratic process."Gantz told reporters when he arrived at the Knesset that "there is still a chance of reaching understandings with the Likud and you cannot lose hope."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.
