The Yesh Atid-Telem faction will meet on Monday for the first time since MK Ofer Shelah announced that he would challenge Yair Lapid for the party leadership.
By GIL HOFFMANAn empty Knesset Plenum (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Knesset plenum will return from its annual August shutdown on Monday to a week that is expected to be particularly intense.The Yesh Atid-Telem faction will meet on Monday for the first time since MK Ofer Shelah announced he would challenge Yair Lapid for the party leadership. Lapid is expected to announce at the meeting whether he will agree to hold a leadership primary.Shelah made a point of visiting the situation room of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) city of Bnei Brak on Sunday at the request of Mayor Avraham Rubinstein to hear how the city is dealing with the coronavirus. The visit was seen as a reminder that Lapid would not be welcome in Bnei Brak, while Shelah could potentially receive haredi support to form a government.United Torah Judaism will hold its weekly faction meeting on Monday in Bnei Brak with haredi leaders.Lapid received an endorsement on Sunday from Yesh Atid-Telem MK Yorai Lahav Hertzanu, who wrote on Facebook that Lapid is the only candidate who could beat Netanyahu.“This is the time to tighten our ranks and stand behind the only alternative who can remove Netanyahu from power, Yair Lapid,” he said.There will be a special session with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss what Yesh Atid-Telem calls “the overwhelming failure of the government in handling the health and economic crisis.” Netanyahu will have to listen to opposition speeches in the plenum and then address the MKs.“The corona crisis is not being managed,” Yesh Atid faction meeting head Meir Cohen said. “The economic situation of Israeli citizens is not getting better, and the infection rate in Israel keeps rising. The government is losing the trust of the public. The protests against the government that was formed to deal with corona must reach the prime minister.”
