Posted on 12/27/20
| News Source: Times of Israel
Former Likud lawmakers who left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party to join rival Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope pledged on Saturday their new right-wing list would not join a coalition with the premier following the elections.
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Israel heads to its fourth national election in two years on March 23, after the government led by Netanyahu collapsed last week over a failure to pass a state budget.
Recent television polls have put Netanyahu’s bloc of right-wing and religious parties short of a majority, but also predicted that his rivals would have had a hard time building a viable coalition. Though Netanyahu lacked a clear path to forming a government, it’s unclear from the survey results if an alternative coalition could be assembled, with the parties opposing the Likud leader divided ideologically and over the question of who should be premier.
“We won’t join Netanyahu in any form [in a coalition], because his personal interests are guiding his decisions,” said Ze’ev Elkin, formerly a confidant of Netanyahu, in an interview with Channel 12’s “Meet the Press.”
“And that makes it [Netanyahu’s leadership] dangerous,” continued Elkin. “Netanyahu feels persecuted, he suspects everyone, the atmosphere is one of a cult of personality… of flattery. This is precisely what we want to change.”
Netanyahu is currently on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies any wrongdoing.
Read more at Times of Israel.