Yamina leader Naftali Bennett has agreed to create a governing coalition with Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, according to an unsourced TV report Friday on a deal that could pave the way for the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after over a decade in power.
The report from Channel 12 news came as Lapid scrambled to line up support for a government by a June 2 deadline, with Bennett potentially holding the keys. If Lapid cannot build a majority by June 2, the Knesset would have 21 days to agree on a prime minister; otherwise, Israel would head to its fifth elections in two-and-a-half years.
“I intend to enter talks and efforts to form a government that we will both head,” Bennett told Lapid Friday, according to Channel 12, which reported that an agreement had been reached despite the message’s seemingly non-committal nature.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett has agreed to create a governing coalition with Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, according to an unsourced TV report Friday on a deal that could pave the way for the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after over a decade in power.
The report from Channel 12 news came as Lapid scrambled to line up support for a government by a June 2 deadline, with Bennett potentially holding the keys. If Lapid cannot build a majority by June 2, the Knesset would have 21 days to agree on a prime minister; otherwise, Israel would head to its fifth elections in two-and-a-half years.
“I intend to enter talks and efforts to form a government that we will both head,” Bennett told Lapid Friday, according to Channel 12, which reported that an agreement had been reached despite the message’s seemingly non-committal nature.
Bennett will announce the agreement to the public in the coming days and the government will be sworn in as early as June 8, according to the network.
According to the report, Bennett would serve as prime minister for the first two years and three months of the rotation government, before Lapid takes over in September 2023 for the last two years and three months. It said an announcement would come after Shabbat on Saturday night, or on Sunday.
The channel noted that Yamina No. 2 Ayelet Shaked could still torpedo the deal, however, fearing a right-wing backlash from voters who prefer a government headed by the conservative Netanyahu than one backed and eventually headed by the centrist Lapid. Channel 13 said that Yamina MK Nir Orbach was also on the fence.
Netanyahu appeared to attempt to play into those fears earlier Friday, releasing a video in which he said Bennett first agreed to join a rotational government with him, but later reneged to throw his lot in with what he described as a “left-wing government.”
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