Bennett to consider all options ahead of Yesh Atid deadline to form gov't
Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked denied reports that Bennett's statement ruling out a government of change was the result of pressure from her.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: MAY 15, 2021 22:34Would a government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid really be a potential leftist disaster?(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER)Yamina leader Naftali Bennett will consider all coalition possibilities ahead of the June 2 deadline for Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid to form a government, sources in Yamina revealed to The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night.Bennett told Lapid on Thursday that forming a government of change with Ra’am (United Arab List) head Mansour Abbas was off the table.But sources in Yamina said the decision was not final and Bennett made a point of never saying it to the cameras or in an official press release or statement on social media.While Bennett cited the recent spate of violence between Arabs and Jews in mixed cities as his reason for not enabling a government with Abbas, sources in Yamina said it was more the protests outside the homes of Yamina MKs that led to the decision.“It was a move to alleviate pressure,” a source in Yamina said. “I stopped getting death threats and being called a leftist traitor. Nothing can happen in the month of May. The decision will be revisited closer to June 2.”The delay gives time for the military escalation to end and for pressure on New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar or Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz to join a government in which Bennett would serve as prime minister the first 18 months or two years, followed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then possibly Sa’ar or Gantz. It also gives time for possible defections of MKs from New Hope.Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked denied reports that Bennett’s statement ruling out a government of change was the result of pressure from her.She told a whatsapp group of her loyalists who credited her with the move that they were wrong.“Friends, this was a step by Bennett, who understood the security situation,” Shaked wrote her loyalists.Spokesmen for both Bennett and Shaked called a report in Haaretz that she told Bennett she would not join a change government, and he gave into her, “fake news.”
But meanwhile, sources in Yamina called for patience until a few days after the military escalation ends.“We couldn’t just sit through this when we are where we are on the political map,” a source in Yamina said. “Now it is back to square one: Anything can happen.”Sources in Likud said offers from the party to Bennett would not be as good as before, now that he has ruled out a government of change. The sources said Likud, unlike other parties, did not fear holding another election, whether it would be for the Knesset or just a direct election for prime minister.Meanwhile, Meretz MK Yair Golan called on Lapid to form a coalition of 61 MKs that would include both Ra’am and the Joint List but not Yamina. But sources in New Hope said there was zero chance of such a coalition being formed. Ra’am and the Joint List will be meeting with the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee led by former MK Mohammad Barakeh on Sunday to consider their next moves.“There will be no contacts or negotiations with any of the sides until the offensive moves against our society and the Palestinian people end,” Ra’am said in an official statement on Saturday, in a rare mention of the Palestinians by the party.
