On Sunday, a small hard-line party leader stated he would attempt to form a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rivals. It is a significant step towards concluding the 12-year rule of the Israeli leader. In a nationwide address, Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett remarked he had decided to join forces with the nation's opposition head, Yair Lapid.
Far-right party leader Naftali Bennett gave his crucial support on Sunday behind the unity government in Israel to unseat PM Benjamin Netanyahu in what would be touted as an end to a political era. Bennett's decision could allow opposition chief Yair Lapid to put together a coalition of centrist, right-wing, and leftist parties and hand Netanyahu his first election failure since 1999.
A Series of Steps
The dramatic declaration by Naftali Bennett prepared for steps that could plunge Netanyahu and his dominant Likud party into the opposition the following week. Bennett and his new partner, Yair Lapid, are still facing several hindrances. According to Bennett, he would do his best to establish the Government of National Unity with his friend Lapid. He added God would be happy to save the country from such a predicament and return Israel into its orbit, reported Ohio News Time.
The self-styled "change government" must now present such plans to President Reuven Rivlin. If the Israeli president approves the proposal, the 120-seat Knesset must vote on it. This process would take at least a week to be put together, reported Financial Times.
According to Bennett, "It's my intention to do my utmost in order to form a national unity government along with my friend Yair Lapid, so that, God willing, together we can save the country from a tailspin and return Israel to its course." Bennett, who would like to annex the majority of the occupied West Bank, has a much closer ideologically to Netanyahu than Lapid, a former television news anchor popular with the nation's secular middle class, reported The Irish Times.
The pair have until Wednesday to complete a negotiation in which they are slated to each serve two years as PM in a rotation negotiation. At least for the time being, the unity government would also end the record-setting tenure of the current Israeli prime minister, the most dominant figure in Israeli politics in the course of the previous three decades.
Lapid is the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party that finished second to Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in an indecisive March 23 national ballot. His chances of success rested largely with Bennett, a former defense chief and a high-tech millionaire whose Yamina party's six seats in the 120-member parliament are adequate to provide him the kingmaker status. Under a prospective power-sharing negotiation, Bennett would replace Netanyahu, head of the Likud party, for 71 years.
