Yamina Party leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked both gave indications on Wednesday that they were ready to enable the formation of a government that would replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bennett told Yamina MKs on Wednesday night that their party was facing “a well-oiled machine of bullying and terror” from the Likud and the Religious Zionist Party, but would ignore it and would “do only what is good for the people of Israel.”
He blasted Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich and the Likud for promising to bring defectors from the change camp to the pro-Netanyahu camp and not delivering.
In a statement to the press at the Knesset, Shaked said her party was “trying to be flexible and paying a price to form a government and prevent a fifth election.”
Smotrich earlier accused Bennett and Shaked of being on their way to what he called a left-wing government. He said that they misled right-wing voters when they said a government with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was off the table, and that they took that step merely to ease right-wing pressure on them during Operation Guardian of the Walls in the Gaza Strip.
“Bennett and Shaked tricked people for two weeks while continuing to work on a left-wing government,” Smotrich said.
Shaked responded that Smotrich is burning the bridges to a right-wing government and causing chaos and a fifth election. She said that in a meeting on Tuesday night she asked Smotrich to agree to a right-wing minority government, but he did not respond until the press conference in which he attacked her.
Smotrich said Yamina officials asked him to join them in the government, but he told them he would not sell his soul to the Left.
“In the days ahead, Bennett will hold a dramatic press conference and explain how he has to join a left-wing government to prevent elections,” he said. “Bennett and Ayelet are lying. The reason why a right-wing government won’t be formed is that they wanted a left-wing government.”
Smotrich called on Shaked and Yamina MKs Nir Orbach and Idit Silman to prevent such a government from being formed. Demonstrators erected a protest tent near Orbach’s home on Wednesday.
Yesh Atid continued its efforts to finalize coalition deals and then present Bennett with a government on a silver platter. Lapid’s party reached a tentative agreement overnight with the Meretz Party of Nitzan Horowitz. According to the deal, Horowitz would serve as health minister and Meretz MKs Tamar Zandberg and Esawi Frej will receive the environmental protection and regional cooperation portfolios, respectively.
The parties agreed on additional funding for health that would go toward “expanding the medical services basket and adding new positions to the healthcare and mental health systems in Israel.”
Lapid and Horowitz discussed a bill that would help Israel fight climate change and “will include ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions, shift to renewable energy, clear the polluting industries from Haifa Port and improve both public and shared transport inIsrael.”
They also reached an agreement on matters of religion and state.