UTJ MK Downplays Report of Coalition Talks

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher downplayed reports that opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu has been negotiating with one of the coalition parties to establish a replacement for the faltering Bennett-Lapid government.

MK Asher told 103 FM Radio: “I don’t know of such negotiations at this moment. Our desire is that there should be a coalition in this term [avoiding elections].”

He did not rule out the possibility of a new alignment, however. “I am not aware right now of this type of negotiation, but could it happen? Definitely.”

“There is an entire group of people which is pretty homogeneous with regards to how right-wing and traditional it is. The elephant in the room is receiving the support of over a million people. It hasn’t become an elephant for no reason. It’s a public issue,” he added.

Ynet on Wednesday quoted UTJ MK Uri Maklev saying that he has learned of such negotiations from senior members of Netanyahu’s Likud party.

MK Maklev reportedly said that Netanyahu was proposing a rotation with the unnamed party leader for the position of prime minister and the question of who would be first as PM were ongoing.

In the interview, Asher described Bennett and Lapid as “a pair of excited children that can’t be placed in the same row with Netanyahu (Likud) or with others.”

“There is no one in the Knesset who believes one word that Bennett says. There is not one word of his which is in line with true reality. The main player here is Yair Lapid, and the even more main player is [Finance Minister Avigdor] Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu).”