Report: Speaker Levin Turns Down Offer to Serve as PM

With just nine days till the end of Binyamin Netanyahu’s mandate to form a new government, and pressure from the possibility of an alternative government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid has seemingly pushed the Likud into a corner. Army Radio reported Sunday morning that Knesset Speaker MK Yariv Levin was officially offered the post of prime minister for the first year, with Netanyahu to serve as alternate prime minister for that time. This proposal comes after Netanyahu refused for many weeks to discuss this possibility at all, which is against the wishes of Likud voters. But this seems to be the only viable option to bring Gideon Sa’ar and his New Hope party into the government.

According to the report, Levin rejected the proposal.

In addition to Levin’s own unwillingness, the proposal is unacceptable among other senior Likud members: ministers such as Yuli Edelstein (second on the Likud list), Yisrael Katz and Miri Regev will not agree to an “appointment on behalf of” Netanyahu with him still making the calls, and as it seems at the moment, Netanyahu is just working with all his might to thwart an alternative government.