‘Israeli’ Parties in Talks to Form New Government

By Staff, Agencies

During his winning speech on Wednesday Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would seek to serve as the prime minister of all ‘Israelis’, “right and left, Jewish and non-Jewish,” though he promised to form a right-wing government for the occupation entity.

“There is a three-sided readiness” for “a real unity government,” Channel 12 TV’s political analyst Amnon Abramovich claimed, referring to a potential alliance between the winning Likud party, runner-up Blue & White, and former war minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party.

Meanwhile, Lapid and Lieberman both flew to Vienna following this week’s elections, raising speculation that they were in negotiations there, though a Yisrael Beytenu parliament member denied it on Thursday.

Lapid said he was “personally opposed to sitting in a government with Netanyahu,” in response to the notion of the unity coalition.

Earning 36 seats in parliament, Likud could achieve a 65-seat majority in the ‘Israeli’ parliament [Knesset] solely by forming a right-wing bloc that joins 15 parliament members [MKs] from the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, five from the more extreme Union of Right Wing parties, four from Kulanu and five from Yisraeli Beitenu.

Even without Lieberman’s joinder, Netanyahu would likely be able to survive with a 60-seat coalition, given that Yisreal Beitenu would not vote with Arab parties to topple a right-wing government, even though it was Yisrael Beitenu’s decision to quit the last government that led to snap elections.

Meanwhile Netanyahu has reportedly been attempting to woo centrist Kulanu party back into the Likud fold, ‘Israeli’ Channel 12 and online paper Ynet reported Thursday. Kulanu's leader Moshe Kahlon, who is the current finance minister and was previously part of the Likud, had kept his options open throughout the campaign.