Kingmakers Bennett, Abbas leave both sides in the dark
Yamina leader to hold fateful meetings with PM, Lapid
The two political kingmakers, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and Ra’am (United Arab List) head Mansour Abbas, declined to reveal on Thursday whom they will help form a government next week, when they meet with President Reuven Rivlin to discuss the results of the March 23 election.
Bennett will hold long-awaited meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid over the weekend.
Bennett said on Thursday night that he would not recommend Lapid to the president, making it harder for the Yesh Atid leader to receive the mandate to form a new government from Rivlin. While Bennett said he will not recommend Lapid, that does not mean that he will recommend Netanyahu. Political sources speculate that he will recommend himself.
Not recommending one of the candidates does not mean that he rules out sitting with them in the government. That will be determined in the coalition talks that follow the president’s decision.
Bennett’s meeting with Netanyahu will take place on Friday at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Lapid’s will be on Saturday night.
Lapid is expected to offer Bennett a rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office in which Bennett would go first. Netanyahu is not likely to make such an offer, but his associates said he would welcome Bennett and Yamina into Likud with several reserved slots and other perks.
Abbas delivered a speech in Hebrew in Nazareth on Thursday night, in an effort to reach out to Jewish Israelis, but he did not reveal his political plans.