Bennet to meet with Netanyahu and Lapid

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Chairman of right-wing Yamina party Naftali Bennett will have meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid this weekend, Ynet News reports. The scheduled meetings follow a week in which Bennet declined to indicate who he would recommend to President Reuven Rivlin to form Israel’s next government.

Once again, no clear victor emerged from Israel’s fourth election in two years last month. While Netanyahu’s Likud party won the most Knesset seats among right-wing parties, the coalition he has so far been able to put together could not muster the 61 seats out of 120 that are needed to form a government.

In a press conference, Netanyahu called on former allies Bennet and Gideon Sa’ar of the New Hope party to “come home” and unite with his bloc. “It’s no secret that we’ve had disagreements over the years, but we have known how to overcome them and work together,” the PM said. “Let’s form a stable right-wing government that will last for years. Come back home to your natural place – the Right.”

However, there is currently strong anti-Netanyahu sentiment among various contenders for power, including Lapid, who leads the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party.

Indeed, Lapid has called on Sa’ar and Bennet to join his centrist bloc rather than unite with Netanyahu.

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