Incoming prime minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday pleaded with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give up his efforts to remain in power.
In a prime-time speech, he lamented statements by Netanyahu encouraging protests that Bennett said crossed redlines in harassing Yamina and New Hope MKs.
"The nation would prefer to remember the good Netanyahu brought the country and not his bad spirits when leaving office," he said.
“Free the country to move on,” he said. “People are allowed to vote for the formation of a government, even if it is not led by you. This government will be 10 degrees more right-wing then the current one.”
Bennett called on Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin to enable the Knesset to hold a vote of confidence in the new government and the swearing in of ministers on Wednesday. The eight party heads who will make up the next coalition issued a similar call when they met at Tel Aviv’s Dan Hotel on Sunday.
“I know Netanyahu is pressuring you to stall for an additional five days to give him time to hunt for defectors,” Bennett said to Levin. “This might be good for Netanyahu, but you know it’s not good for the country. Free us of more long days of poison, fire and smoke. That is what the public expects you to do.”
In a recording leaked to KAN, Levin was heard telling the MKs that he would "do what is best for Likud."After watching the video, he said:"I have to decide what is good for us [in Likud]," he said.Bennett and Netanyahu sparred on Sunday over attempts to bring Ra’am (United Arab List) leader Mansour Abbas into the coalition. In an interview with Channel 20, Netanyahu said he, unlike Bennett, would not form a government with “Mahmoud, I mean Mansour, Abbas.”
Netanyahu repeatedly held up a piece of paper Bennett signed in a live interview with the same channel two days before the election on March 23, in which he promised not to form a government with Abbas. Netanyahu called Bennett “a serial liar.”
But Bennett said he knew for a fact that Netanyahu had offered Abbas the chance to join a Likud-led coalition because he himself was part of the same negotiations.
In the interview, Netanyahu called Bennett “an adventurer with a craving for the perks of power who is ready to sell out the state.”
Netanyahu made another effort on Saturday night to form a rotation government, calling New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar, who rejected the offer, Channel 12 reported Sunday.
Netanyahu warned that if he is replaced by Bennett, Israel would surrender to US demands to return to an agreement with Iran that would endanger Israel’s future.
Without mentioning US President Joe Biden by name, Netanyahu told the Likud faction Israel was under significant pressure from Washington to accept its rejoining the Iran nuclear deal. He warned against empowering Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, Labor head Merav Michaeli and Meretz chairman Nitzan Horowitz to make decisions about Iran.
“This is a government that will not be able to withstand the pressure from the United States to return to the nuclear agreement with Iran that will bring Iran atomic bombs that would threaten us,” Netanyahu said. “When this agreement comes, the security cabinet with Lapid, Michaeli and Horowitz will not approve any daring steps in enemy territory inside Iran.
“A government that is dependent on supporters of terrorism cannot take consistent and systematic steps against terrorist groups in Gaza, and it is doubtful that it will be able to fight decisions against IDF soldiers by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”
By supporters of terrorism, Netanyahu referred to the Islamist Ra’am (United Arab List) of Abbas. Netanyahu denied reports that he, too, was working on building a coalition with Ra’am.
“We never agreed to form a government with [Abbas] or to give him the chairmanship of the Knesset Interior Committee,” he said.
Netanyahu said another reason he called what is being formed “a dangerous left-wing government” is that it would not be able to handle US demands to stop construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
In a message to MKs in Yamina and New Hope who could still be wavering, Netanyahu said: “Whoever is right-wing does not vote for a left-wing government, and those who are in favor of a left-wing government are not right-wing. There is still time to vote against this government that would endanger the State of Israel. The hour is late, but not too late. Do the right thing and vote against the left-wing government.”
Appearing to accept the likelihood that such a government would be formed in the days ahead, he said: “We in Likud will firmly oppose formatting this dangerous government of trickery and surrender, and if, God forbid, it is formed, we will bring it down very quickly.”
Yamina and New Hope MKs will have to make the most important decision of their lives in the days ahead, Levin told the faction. He called the new coalition being formed “radical Left” and based solely on hate.
The Yamina faction also met on Sunday. Following the end of the meeting, sources who attended said MK Nir Orbach remained undecided about whether he would vote for the new government or quit the Knesset and be replaced by the next candidate on the Yamina list, deaf activist Shirley Pinto, who backs the new coalition.
Orbach on Sunday told Settlers Council head David Elhayani the behavior of Arab-Israelis during riots made it “harder for him to swallow” a coalition with Ra’am.