Bayit Yehudi party leader Minister Naftali Bennett predicts there will not be a new coalition government before Independence Day, which is 5 Iyar. While some believe Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will complete the task of forming a coalition in the first 28 days of the presidential mandate, citing he is highly experienced and well in tune to the demands of his potential coalition partners, Bennett feels Mr. Netanyahu will require the 14-day extension to build the coalition.
Unquestionably, the prime minister will have his work cut out as Bennett and other potential coalition partners have set their sights on senior cabinet posts.
Bennett expects to become the next defense minister or foreign minister however it is unclear if PM Netanyahu will be willing to give him such a senior post in the next government.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
He must not give him too much power. I can accept that he should be foreign minister since he is quite articulate and proficient in English as well as charasmatic but not a post which will give him muvh internal governing legislative power. He’s a sly fox. Although he portends to be chareidi to some degree his alignment with Lapid in the 19th Knesset shows who he really is.
I’m sure Netanyahu is reading my post AND is expecting, even anticipating, my sage advice!
Bennett’s party was seriously rejected by the voters (that’s what losing a third of your seats means), and he has a strong ideological agenda that would be sacrifised if he isn’t in the govenrment. He should be less greedy and settle for ideological assurances and give up trying to get a major ministry (as if he significantly incresed his seats and is indispensable for a coalition).
Lieberman and the Hareidim are being similarly greedy. If they keep it up, one might up with Likud and Labor working together, splitting the patronage evenly, ane leaving their whining allies in the dust.
#2 you and others keep harping about the Bayit Yehudi’s great loss…”rejected by voters.”
IMHO, that is hardly the case…true they, probably more than Shas, lost voters to Yachad, which attracted voters that were displeased with BY stance on religious status quo and the hareidi draft.
However, their main loss was probably to Likud, who they were very cooperative with, and the PM certainly owes BY something for it’s direct support, despite it’s big loss of mandates. The defense ministry is off limits because Bennet publicly spoke out in times of war against the government.
Perhaps as poster #1 suggested Bennet will be suited to the Foreign Ministry because of his command of English and his relatively more diplomatic way of speaking..anyone but Lieberman who charges as if a red flag has been waved before him.
Lieberman is also not suited for Defense…there are plenty with much more combat experience and I hope that Yaalon will continue. He also has a more nuanced approach to the hareidi draft issue.
Hareidim should just be thankful that they got Lapid out and one party should take over Religious Affairs as a full ministry. I would have thought that Eli Yishai would have made a great Interior Minister but he didn’t make it so the poor people of South TelAviv probably won’t get too much attention to their plight. Perhaps there are other non-major ministries which will also be appropriate.
I hope the YWN will post my post…last time it wasn’t posted even though no inappropriate language or content was used.
In all probability,this is for Netanyahu his final term as PM.
He would want to leave a legacy that is substantive
Till now ,his prime legacy has been little more than increased security ,important as that may be.
Could anyone name something else?
(He’ll be stepping down in 3 or 4 years.)
So he needs to build a formidable coalition that would be possible to implant a long lasting impact
Which would probably preclude a National Unity Gov’t.
But we ought to put this all aside until after the the Levaya In Yerushalayim Of The Sassoon Children
There Won’t Be a Coalition before Independence Day Does this mean not before Yom Ha’Atzma’ut Mukdom on Thursday Iyyor 4th? or not before Yom Ha’Atzma’ut BiZemano on Friday Iyyor 5th?
What a self centered person.
For all those trying to force a Palestinian State “solution” (given the complete and total rejection of the Jewish state in any borders by the even the most “moderate” arabs) Bennett as Foreign Minister is EXACTLY the person they should have to deal with. He is not intimidated by them and can present the position for Israel’s security and actual existence eloquently and in a way that is understood as common sense.