Elad Benari(INN)
Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett has in the last two days held a preliminary round of talks with the leaders of the Likud, Yesh Atid, Shas, Religious Zionist, Blue and White, United Torah Judaism, Labor, Yisrael Beytenu and Meretz.
“Bennett wished the party leaders a happy holiday, and stressed the need to act in a statesmanlike and responsible manner in order to rescue Israel from the chaos and return the country to normal as quickly as possible,” said a statement from Yamina released on Friday afternoon.
Earlier on Friday, it was reported that the chairman of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, and the chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, Avigdor Liberman, had met and discussed the various options for forming a government. In a joint statement from the two parties, they announced that they are expected to meet again and continue the talks.
Meanwhile, New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar posted a tweet in which he called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to vacate his seat so that a government could be formed together with the Likud.
“For the fourth time in two years, Netanyahu failed to achieve a parliamentary majority of 61. Without Netanyahu, a stable government can be formed easily and quickly. If Israel is more important to Netanyahu than continuing to hold on to power, he must finally draw the required patriotic conclusion,” Sa’ar wrote. “I call on Netanyahu to step aside, free Israel and allow it to move forward.”
New Hope member Sharren Haskel, meanwhile, stated that she would not rejoin the Likud because she was “loyal to the values in whose name New Hope was established, and not to the ministerial portfolios. Let go.”
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
