The post-election coalition wrangling ramped up a gear in Israel Thursday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed an apparent preference to form a centrist unity government as he entered into talks with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, the surprise victors of Tuesday’s national elections, having returned an unprecedented 19 seats, securing the popular Atid the second largest political delegation in the Knesset.
Reports emerged following a lengthy meeting between Netanyahu and Lapid Thursday that the centrist leader had been offered his choice of either Finance or Foreign Minister in the next administration, leaving him in apparent pole position to adopt a senior role in Netanyahu’s. Whilst surely leaving Netanyahu’s former preferred right-wing partners, the Orthodox Shas party and the former FM Avigdor Lieberman, out in the cold. Lieberman resigned his post ahead of the early elections last month pending a corruption charge, but had reportedly hoped to resume his portfolio should his name be cleared.
An agreement with Yesh Atid could pave the way for a rainbow right-centrist coalition, including Shaul Mofaz’s Kadima party, Netanyahu’s short-lived partner of 2012, Shelly Yachimovitch’s Labor party and former Kadima luminary Tzipi Livni’s newly-formed Hatnuah party.
This could relegate Shas, seen as a shoo-in partner for Netanyahu in light of his ongoing battle to reform the law on compulsory subscription for the ultra-Orthodox, and the much-touted far-right Habayit Hayehudi party under Naftali Bennet’s leadership, who despite triumphing in opinion polls leading up to the vote, failed to convert apparent support into seats, mirroring Shas’s own return of 11 members in the Knesset.
On the subject of Lapid’s potential leap to power, Netanyahu may find himself facing significant opposition from within the ranks of his own Likud-Beiteinu party, after current Minister for the Environment Gilad Erkan claimed Thursday that it would be “unnatural” for the Yesh Atid leader o claim the Foreign minister post, considering his emphasis on socioeconomic issues throughout the election campaign.
Lieberman himself continued the charge as intimated Wednesday that the Finance post might be a more obvious fit for Lapid’s interests in socioeconomic affairs, given his campaign slogan of “Where’s the money?”.
Labour figureheads meanwhile hinted they wouldn’t be averse to entering into a centrist coalition should Netanyahu show himself to be willing to pursue such a course, as the party’s number three Eitan Cabel told Army Radio Friday: "If the Prime Minister would have the courage - and he doesn't - so it's no more than wishful thinking... if he would call us, Kadima, Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid and would say: 'you are my coalition,' that would be difficult for us to refuse”.
The party’s chairwoman Shelly Yachimovitch, however, issued a warning to Netanyahu that “my faction will be a sharp and difficult opposition to you”, adding: “He knows better than others how deep the chasm is between our parties on socioeconomic issues. I won’t contribute to the collapse of Israeli society [in exchange] for seats in the coalition.”
Additional reports claimed that while both Lapid and Netanyahu have already agreed on the inclusion of Kadima and Habayit Hayehudi in a future coalition, they disagree on the remaining makeup of the rainbow government which requires a majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat body in order to form a functioning administration, with claims that Lapid will concede to Netanyahu’s preference for Shas in return for some leeway on his own preference for Hatnuah.