Yamina Left Out of Coalition, Say Not Their Choice

YERUSHALAYIM
Education Minister Naftali Bennett. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/File)

Yamina has still not signed the coalition agreement, but party leaders say it’s not because they don’t want in, but because Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ doesn’t want them in.

“We are not leaving Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, but he might break off from us,” Shaked said at a press conference on Monday. “If he decides that, it will be his decision, and we will be a fighting opposition that will be an alternative on the Right. We don’t want to be a fifth wheel in the government.”

Yamina has been threatening along these lines since Benny Gantz decided to reverse direction and join PM Netanyahu. The allocation of ministries, especially Justice, has left Netanyahu’s right-wing partner on the sidelines.

Bennett met with Netanyahu for an hour last Wednesday to discuss the situation, but a hoped-for followup meeting did not materialize, and the next opportunity won’t be until after Independence Day, on Thursday.

Netanyahu’s office would not comment on when the next meeting would likely be held, when queried by The Jerusalem Post.

Shaked said Yamina would not support the measures currently being legislated to facilitate forming the government, because it remains unclear whether the party will be in the coalition and because legislation that changes the electoral system should not be passed in a week.

That will not stop passage, though, since Netanyahu should have sufficient votes to pass the legislation without Yamina.

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