Israeli Politics on Hold as Orbach Thinks it Over

By Yisrael Price

YERUSHALAYIM – The man who holds the fate of the Bennett-Lapid government in his hands is not answering his phone.

The Likud party has been trying to reach renegade Yamina MK Nir Orbach to entice him to once-and-for-all bolt the coalition and join them, but Orbach has not been returning their calls, according to Walla news on Thursday.

After a series of meetings with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in recent days, Orbach decided to freeze his membership in the coalition, but has denied reports that he’s in talks with Likud.

Meanwhile, the government is down to 59 MKs, short of the 61 needed for a ruling majority in the Knesset.

While Orbach has been talking with Bennett, he hasn’t been answering him.

Yisrael Hayom reported on Thursday that in a meeting held between the two earlier this week, when Bennett tried to extract a commitment from Orbach that he would not support the dissolution of the Knesset and trigger elections, Orbach would not respond.

Then, when Bennett tried to get Orbach to at least agree that even if he supported dissolution, he would manage to drag out the process in the Knesset committee he heads until after President Joe Biden’s visit in mid-July – but Orbach again refused to respond to that, as well.

“If Lapid is prime minister at the time of the visit,” Bennett told the right-wing Orbach, “he will acquiesce to every American demand, which will be terrible for right-wing interests.” The reference was to the coalition agreement that says if a right-wing member of the coalition causes it to fall, Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid will serve as interim prime minister.

Bennett argued that Orbach’s quitting before that would harm the interests of the state. Analysts pointed out that it would also harm Bennett’s own political interests, since an interim government presided over by Lapid could for many months while elections are held and a new government formed.

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu made an attempt to communicate with Orbach other than by phone on Thursday during a memorial speech for the victims of the Altalena disaster.

“I know that Orbach’s heart is in the right place,” Netanyahu said.

“I know that Orbach is against a government that depends on the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council,” referring to the advisory body of the coalition’s Islamist Ra’am party.

“I know he’s against transferring control of the country and the economy to Ra’am, the Joint List and other anti-Zionist forces,” Netanyahu said.

Addressing Orbach directly, he said: “You were right when you said in the Knesset in a moment of truth that the experiment has failed,” referring to the inclusion of an Arab party in the coalition.

“That failure is already endangering the entire country, endangering our future. At this crucial moment, there is a need to take action,” Netanyahu said.

On Monday Orbach announced that he was freezing his membership in the coalition, accusing “extremist, anti-Zionist elements” such as Arab MKs Mazen Ghanaim (Ra’am) and Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi (Meretz) of pulling the coalition “in problematic directions” and “holding it hostage.”

On Thursday night, Bennet’s Yamina party denied a report by Kan news that he discussed the possibility of making a deal with Netanyahu to set up an alternative government.

An alternative government could be established within the current Knesset without new elections, if another candidate can assemble a majority.