Netanyahu Unable to Form Coalition

Yesterday evening Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had failed to form a coalition after almost four weeks of trying. Consequently, he has returned the mandate to form a government to Israel’s President.

Screen shot of i24 news report

In a video posted to his social media pages Netanyahu said:

“A short while ago I notified the president that I’m returning the mandate to form a government back to him.”

“Since I received the mandate I worked non-stop, both in public and behind the scenes,
to form a broad national unity government – that is what the people want.”

“Over the last few weeks I did everything I could to bring Benny Gantz to the negotiating table and to form a national and broad unity government. I did everything I could to prevent another election.”

“To my dismay, time after time he refused.”

This means that Israel’s Prime Minister has now failed to form a coalition twice in six months.

Some say that he has now started a public campaign against the Blue and White party, claiming Benny Gantz will try to form a minority government that would endanger Israel, due to support from the Arab parties.

But another key character in this situation is Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party which won 8 seats in the September election.