New Hope party leader Gideon Sa’ar on Wednesday said a government led by Yesh Atid’s centralist party leader Yair Lapid, came hours after party leader Yamina Naftali Bennett said he would never serve under Lapid .
“The camp on the left is a small public and Knesset camp. Most people are right in the middle, so it is not possible for a government to be led by Lapid. It’s just not politically feasible. Everyone who understands this political system knows, ”said Sa’ar during a tour of southern communities.
“Only Netanyahu in his campaign videos creates an imaginative rivalry between himself and Lapid. Netanyahu knows that there is a real rivalry between him and me, ”said Sa’ar. His party is the third most popular right-wing party, after Likud at Netanyahu and Yesh Atid at Lapid, according to the recent election.
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Like Bennett, he did not shy away from sitting in a coalition with Lapid.
“Lapid can be a partner in a government led by me. There is no chance Lapid will become prime minister. I have said before, it is not new, and today it is very clear, after what Bennett said, that there is no such potential, ”Sa’ar said, according to the Ynet news site. “There are two options – another Netanyahu government or a change of government led by me.”
Bennett said earlier Wednesday that he would not sit in any future government led by a left-wing party, including Yesh Atid, but clarified that his party would agree that Yesh Atid joining a potential consortium.
“It’s time to replace Netanyahu, and he can only come from Yamina,” Bennett told public broadcaster Kan. “Yamina will not sit in a government led by the left, taking over with Lapid as prime minister.”
“But we have no problem with Lapid coming into government,” Bennett said.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid at a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on April 19, 2020. (Tomer Neuberg / Flash90)
When questioned about tagging a left-wing label on Lapid, who is said to be a heartthrob, Bennett denied that Lapid could “call himself a kangaroo if he wants. ”
“These elections are within the national camp and I plan to replace Netanyahu,” Bennett said. “Most people are on the right – it can’t be that someone from the left in the prime minister’s office. ”
Bennett has campaigned strongly against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s treatment of the pandemic and has put himself forward as a candidate for prime minister, although recent voting numbers give him less half the number of sets Lanyud Netanyahu is expected to win.
Lapid did not respond directly to Sa’ar or Bennett.
At Likud’s party meeting on Wednesday, Netanyahu held the election as the rivalry between himself and Lapid.
“The choice in this election is who will be prime minister – myself or Lapid,” Netanyahu said, according to the Ynet news site.
Netanyahu on Wednesday mocked Bennett and Sa’ar, his right-wing rivals, considering they would be allies with the Yesh Atid and leader Lapid after being elected to “form a left-wing government.”
Minister of Education Naftali Bennett will attend the Maariv Conference, in Tel Aviv on April 3, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg / Flash90)
“This is the night before Purim, and Bennett and Gideon are dressed. They say all day ‘We don’t sit with Lapid. ‘You ask them about the weather and they say‘ We won’t sit with Lapid. ‘They have to go out of denial, but they have no way of forming a government without a government on the left with Lapid at its head,’ Netanyahu said.
On Tuesday Netanyahu largely re-established the bloc of his right-wing religious parties, which signed a pledge of allegiance promising to support him as prime minister.
The move further complicates efforts by Lapid and Sa’ar – the leaders of the second and third most likely parties, respectively – to form a government.
If both perform well enough on election day and the block on the right refuses to budge, they will be forced to look elsewhere for the coalition partners, be that with Meretz, Labor or perhaps the Joint List or Ra’am if the major Arab parties agree to offer support from the opposition.
If, and rightly so, a religious bloc does not join at least 61 seats next month, the country could be at the head of the fifth election in less than three years.
National elections – the fourth in two years – have been called after the Likud and Blue and White power-sharing government agreed a budget before the 23 December deadline. The election, like the previous three votes, is seen largely as a referendum on Netanyahu’s rule amid his ongoing test of corruption charges, as well as his government’s mixed success in fighting the pandemic.
