Sources who spoke to the Yamina leader in recent days tell Israel Hayom that if Naftali Bennett wanted to, he could have established a government for change in two days.”
Yehuda Shlezinger, ISRAEL HAYOM 05-03-2021 14:05
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Yamina leader Naftali Bennet speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, Oct. 19, 2020 | File photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash 90
With just two days to the Likud’s mandate to form a coalition government and the political system no closer to a decision, the assessment is that Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and his fellow party member Ayelet Shaked have decided against joining a government with Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, New Hope’s Gideon Saar, and the left-wing parties.
The trouble is that Bennett’s decision to join forces with Netanyahu won’t get the parties any closer to establishing a right-wing government due to Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich’s continued opposition to a government that relies on the outside support of the Islamist Ra’am party and Sa’ar’s refusal to join a government that sees Netanyahu serve as the second prime minister in a rotation deal.
Sources in the right-wing bloc told Israel Hayom: “Bennett is trying to stick with us because it is very difficult to establish a government from the other side. Everyone understands there’s a problem, the gaps are big.”
According to the source, Gantz wants the Defense and Justice Ministry portfolios, while Sa’ar is interested in the Justice and Education Ministry portfolios. Shaked, on the other hand, wants to head the Justice Ministry, and Labor head Meirav Michaeli wants the Education Ministry.
These demands “don’t converge, and that’s without taking into account baselines,” the source said.
“Everything is complicated and problematic there, and that’s why Bennett is telling himself that if he has a chance of receiving the premiership anyway, it would be best to do it from the right-wing bloc. And even if he doesn’t succeed in establishing a government with the right-wing bloc and left-wing bloc, he would be better of [making it to another round of] elections without the stain of someone who tried to go with the Left.”
Sources who spoke to Bennett in recent days claimed that “if he wanted to, and he had enough determination, he would have established a government for change in two days. He is still fighting to establish a right-wing government.”
The only way a right-wing government can be formed is if another round of either general or direct elections is held or two lawmakers will be willing to defect so that the Right has the 61-member majority necessary to form a coalition.
Sources in the so-called “change” bloc on Sunday said Bennett and Shaked “decided to collapse the change bloc. They say the two are working on forming a government with Netanyahu and not Lapid.
For their part, Yamina officials said they were adhering to their initial plan of trying to establish a right-wing government, and should those efforts fail, doing everything to avoid dragging the country to another round of elections.
They said that after Netanyahu changed his stance and, according to sources close to Gantz, was willing to offer him the first two years in a rotation agreement, the prime minister would now agree to a rotation deal that sees him make way for another lawmaker for a period of one to two years. While party officials continue to press Sa’ar to join such a right-wing government, the New Hope leader remains adamantly opposed to such a move.
Nevertheless, sources in the political system caution against taking these last-minute statements too seriously. They say the demands and threats from figures such as Bennett are aimed at raising the stakes and pressuring Lapid to agree to Bennett being tasked with forming the next government. Sources close to Lapid say the Yesh Atid leader is concerned that if Bennett receives the mandate, he will form a government with Likud, the Religious Zionist Party, Shas, and United Torah Judaism.
@ Bear Klein:
Yes, Bear, of course you do – I would not have supposed otherwise. I would never count you among the many mad fools that would hope for such a terrible outcome that would only act to harm the state. I am more hopeful, however, that Netanyahu can prove his innocence than that the Judges will render him an innocent verdict. But time will reveal if this is to be the case. Yes, we will see.
@ peloni1986:
I hope Bibi is found innocent! We will see. The defense scored some points in cross-examination against Yeshua. He was forced to admit when he gave HaAretz information he was not always truthful and some of his claims where not accurate.
@ Bear Klein:
In the months leading up to this trial, I have heard many pundits that have reviewed the details of this case, and none of the one’s I have any notion to believe have placed any value in the evidence supporting guilt. Beyond this though, I have judged Yeshua, from what I have heard since the case began just recently, as being less than reputable, even addressing new allegations just as the trial began that were not judge viable enough for the prosecution to include in the indictment. Perhaps, I am poorly judged to do so, but my view of the man is enlightened by his many desperate stories to provide as much support as possible towards a guilt verdict such as the “special coded phrases”. Additionally, the overwhelming need for favorable coverage portrayed by Yeshua’s testimony does not line up with the lack of overwhelmingly favorable coverage in the lead up to the 2015 election as he discussed – I believe 7 favorable vs 11 unfavorable(I saw it earlier, but cant find the citation just now). I believe that, thus far, his testimony and not the many secretly gathered text messages/recordings have been the greater support of his proposed story. You are correct that this was their best shot at a conviction and it is as ugly as are all claims of political corruption. But, in fairness, Bear, the claims of political corruption are not the only reasonable motivating forces that would place the gov’t granting benefits upon this media giant. Tech giants are showered with gov’t grants routinely by gov’t’s across the globe that costs taxpaying citizenry great sums in financial benefits. As I am sure you know, their growth is responsible for a large part of Israel’s economic boom. Additionally, I found the ruling by the judges limiting objections to be fairly prejudicial in favor of prosecution and calls into question the possibility of a fair verdict – and this is where my greatest concern lies with regard to a fair outcome of this managed judicial theatre as I appraise it. I understand your background in the legal-criminal system may grant you a better insight into these matters, but this is how, as a layman, I have percieved the situation thus far. In any case the defense has yet to have their day in court to put things in perspective, and then the judges get to render their decision if they have not already written it, but, we will have to wait and see.
@ peloni1986:
Bibi killed Budget negotiations so that Gantz would not rotate to PM as was the deal. It was very very obvious.
I never would convict anyone without hearing all the evidence in a trial. That said case 4000 appears very bad for Bibi. It looks like to me ( I have a legal criminal background even though I am not a lawyer) that Bibi got a quid quo pro by changing laws to the benefit of Bezeq in order to get free advertising and PR from Walla (owned by Bezeq). The former CEO of Walla just testified at length about that. I simplified this.
This is not free cigars but the benefits Bezeq got cost the Israeli consumer money. It really smells and sounds bad. He is in deep trouble here. That is why the prosecution led with this case. It is the most serious and has the greatest chance of conviction.
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With regard to the paranoia claim of Shaked, I find it interesting that the electorate handed the deranged Netanyahu nearly twice the seats of the next largest party and over four times the seats of Shaked’s more rationally minded party. I do not accept her diagnosis of his mindset. Her paranoia claim appears to be more an act of projection based on Bennett’s desperate moves towards securing support from both the Left and Abbass
I have to admit I suspect that Sara’s hatred of Shaked and Bennett does appear out of step with reality, but if this is all we are left with then it is a point I would not argue with, other than to argue it has little relevance in the greater picture at hand.
Regarding the budget, it was my understanding that the budget negotiations failed following Netanyahu only supporting a one year budget – he was not opposed to the necessity of passing this budget by divided attentions and legal troubles. He was opposed to the two year budget to prevent Gantz a guaranteed role as PM. Gantz could have passed the budget, but his obsession of being PM divided his focus from the necessity of a budget. Netanyahu’s decision to block Gantz’s ascendancy allowed him to lead the Right to their greatest electoral victory yet. These two facts speak of a man, even amid these legal assaults, is capable of managing the role adequately. It is only the dishonest ruse being employed at this point by the heads of these many so-claimed Right wing parties that prevent the Right from the many good works they all claim to so dearly support – just not with Netanyahu the profligate. They need only accept the victory chosen by the electorate but they instead hid behind claims of Netanyahu being a threat to the state as packaged by Shaked in her political sophistry. By subscribing to the subterfuge of the Left wing legalized warfare, these members of the Right act to empower the threat posed by Manderblit and his judicial menace into owning an undemocratic oligarchic stranglehold on the choice of PM. And this, I would suggest, is both duplicitous and dangerous.
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@ Bear Klein:
Bear, the deep legal troubles that you reference here, and which is also referenced by all his defecting allies, are the product of fantastically improvised charges and deeply worrisome tactics. If these selectively applied fabrications of justice are allowed to be manipulated to bring down a successful head of state, the state will never have a head. Should Bennett in his power grab be successful secondary to “these legal troubles”, how long before he is charged with bribery secondary to another improvised interpretation of Manderblit and his legal pundits. So the state will be left with only choosing a gov’t which has been blessed with the passing approval of these non-democratic rogues in black – a distinct alteration in the allocation of authority being placed with these newly self-empowering arbiters of tyranny. Anyone observing the process that was selectively employed against Netanyahu in concocting these “legal troubles” would not mistake them for acts of criminality, but this is the very beauty of this scenario – the presence of a crime plays no role here, as it is only the presence of charges that are necessary to create such an image of “legal troubles”. And it is this dishonest image that these defecting Right-wing leaders cling to as their basis of political intrigue.
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@ peloni1986:
Shaked was correct in her comments that Bibi is focused on his trial and not the country. He caused the elections by not allowing for a budget. Which means NO new monies for the IDF (or planning long range systems), nor for healthcare, housing, etc.
Bibi’s wife Sarah got Shaked kicked out of the Likud because of her pettiness and jealousies.
Time for a new leader dedicated plus capable to lead the country not one so deep in legal trouble and with so much bad baggage that he can not form a stable government.
Shaked was ‘caught’ in audio recording talking about, well, everything… I think it is more than a little self-serving, explaining their reasons for negotiating with the Left while attacking many, Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu, Smotrich, Netanyahu again, also revealing conversations with Saar and Lieberman to hit Netanyahu again. Perhaps the most telling of comments, though, was that “we are not prepared to go to elections” and “We are paying a heavy price for it among our base”. Unfortunately, I think, ultimately, try as they might, there is no way to square this circle and another election is imminent. Should this prediction prove correct, I wonder who will pay the greater price at the polls. There have been many missed opportunities here. But also, many mistakes – largely born out of desperation to rid the state of a capable, but ill liked(by his colleagues) leader. It has been a choice between Netanyahu and his many adversaries – perhaps too many… I would say it will be interesting but this would be to ignore the surrounding threat that grows as Israel’s regional strength, which has grown over the Netanyahu era, stalls admits these terrible rounds of elections. In truth these elections have been terribly self destructive as Iran is allowed to grow her influence thru US support and financial rejuvenation while Israel can not even form a gov’t and instead charges their premiere with crimes of cigars and ice-cream bribes. And yet Shaked speaks of the notion that Sa’ar and Lieberman view that “Netanyahu is a threat to the state” when in fact it is Iran that is the threat with which all should be concerned . 73 members who could be called members of the Right and no gov’t. How terrible it is to spurn such a great opportunity as this and to undermine the voice of the PM as we face the third term of Obama and Iran’s return. It is unforgivable and inexplicable to discern how the electorate chose these men of egos in this last election, but next round perhaps they won’t.
A right bloc or 5th election is better than a left bloc…