Channel 10: Netanyahu wants a centrist government, not one with a hawkish image.
By Gil Ronen,INN
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not want the religious Zionist Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party, led by Naftali Bennett, in his next coalition, Channel 10 has reported.
Netanyahu has been conducting consultations with his political partners in advance of the elections, from which he is widely expected to emerge victorious.
The reason Netanyahu does not want Bayit Yehudi in his next government, sources close to him told the television channel, is that he wants “a more centrist” government, which will include a hareidi party and at least one party from the “center,” in order to avoid “the ultra-rightist image that the current coalition suffers from.”
Bennett’s rivals in the race for leadership of the Jewish Home had warned that he is personally disliked by Netanyahu, and that the two had a falling out which led Bennett to prematurely end his service as Netanyahu’s chief of staff several years ago. As a result, they said, the party will not sit in the next government if Bennett heads it.
Even if the report regarding Netanyahu’s preferences is true, however, the prime minister may not have much of a choice when it comes to letting Bennett into the coalition. The so-called “centrist” parties – Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Tzipi Livni’s party and the Labor party – are seen by many nationalists as hard-line leftist parties. In the course of forging an agreement with them, Netanyahu could find himself facing a revolt within Likud, which has elected a relatively hawkish and religious list that includes Moshe Feiglin.
In any case, the larger Bennett’s party is – the more difficult it will be for Netanyahu to avoid including it in his coalition.
yamit82 Said:
Wrong. Throw Bibi out from within. It could have been done years ago but good folks like yourself prefer spinning their wheels.
Vote for any party right of the Likud which amounts to most of the political parties.
BB is Bad for the Jews and Bad for Israel. The only way to shackle BB is to weaken the Likud’s parliamentary Majority while strengthening all the parties to the right of the Likud at the expense of the Likud. In Israel it’s the ideological blocks who govern.
Kadima was the biggest representative party after the last elections but BB/Likud formed the government based on majority of right wing and religious parties supporting him. In retrospect BB is making Olmert look good today.