Senior politicians are claiming that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to form a new governing coalition, averting an early election.
Earlier this week, after Netanyahu’s dismissal of key ministers, the Knesset began the process for dissolution and an election in March.
However, senior members of the Yesh Atid Party said a representative of Netanyahu’s Likud asked them to defect and join the coalition.
Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid was dismissed last weekend as Finance Minister by Netanyahu, who said Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni were now “siding with Israel’s enemies”.
However, a “senior Yesh Atid official” said, “I have no doubt that Netanyahu will try until the last possible minute to form an alternative coalition instead of holding an election. Netanyahu has the option to stay in power for another three years without an election, so why would he take the chance of losing the reins?”
A Yesh Atid member of the Knesset said the Likud official “told us that it would be a shame if we were no longer in the Knesset after the election, and it would be better to join Netanyahu’s government and survive politically”.
The Prime Minister’s Office denied the claims as “cheap political spin that shows just how the failed Finance Minister Yair Lapid is gripped by panic”.
