As Netanyahu battles Bennett, Zionist Union leader denies report his faction could replace Jewish Home in the coalition
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog denied reports Sunday evening that he is willing to form a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, insisting that not only is the door to unity closed but that “there is no door.”
Herzog’s denial came in a statement some two hours after Channel 2 reported he was mulling entering the coalition if his Zionist Union faction was offered an array of key ministerial jobs and assurances that such a unity government would make substantive efforts to solve the conflict with the Palestinians and advance regional peace.
The developments came as Netanyahu’s coalition remains mired in crisis. Earlier on Sunday, the prime minister was forced to delay a telephone vote among ministers to approve the appointment of Avigdor Liberman as defense minister, and Monday’s scheduled Knesset vote on the same matter was postponed until Wednesday.
Those delays were necessitated because the right-wing coalition party Jewish Home, led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, is threatening to vote against Liberman’s appointment while it presses a demand for an overhaul of the way in which Israel’s key decision-making security cabinet functions.
In his statement late Sunday, Herzog said he was “watching with great pleasure the magician” — a reference to Netanyahu — “and the dreamer,” Bennett.
“I have no intention of being a pawn in their game of arm wrestling. I said there were no negotiations, so there are no negotiations. There is no door and no window and no lock and no key. I don’t work for them,” Herzog added. “I understand the yearning for a different headline, and I’m sorry if it disappoints you that I’m not supplying it.”
Bennett said Sunday morning that his demand for a military attaché to coordinate the handling of information for ministers in times of war was critical to the saving of lives, and that he would not back down. Netanyahu was reported by Channel 2 on Sunday night to be ridiculing the ultimatum, and was said to have declared that Bennett “has blown a fuse.”
Against that backdrop, and with an apparent readiness to consider jettisoning the eight-member Jewish Home from his coalition, the TV report said, Netanyahu is ready to offer the Foreign Ministry portfolio to Herzog and several other ministries to other Zionist Union MKs — including posts currently held by Bennett and his Jewish Home colleagues, with the exception of the Justice Ministry.
Channel 2 quoted Herzog as saying there had been “no official approach” from Netanyahu as of Sunday evening, but that he would join the coalition if his cabinet demands were met, and if he was given a veto on settlement building beyond the security barrier, and promises that Israel would support an international conference to advance regional peace efforts and would revive talks with the Palestinians. Not only would Herzog join the government in those circumstances, the TV report said, but he would be able to bring with him 18-20 members of his 24-strong Knesset faction.
There was no confirmation of the report. Speculation that Zionist Union might yet reopen talks on joining the government, however, had been aired all through Sunday by several political analysts.
Netanyahu and Bennett have long had a strained relationship. In last year’s election campaign, Netanyahu urged voters to forsake other right-wing parties such as Jewish Home and instead vote for his Likud to ensure that he was able to remain prime minister. The Channel 2 report claimed that Sara Netanyahu, often cited as a key influence on her husband, urged him after those elections to leave Bennett out of the coalition and instead turn to Herzog, but he chose not to do so at the time.
Herzog claimed last week that there was a “rare opportunity” for progress on the peace front, and that he had been willing to jeopardize his own political career in negotiating coalition terms with Netanyahu in order to seize that chance. But, Herzog lamented then, Netanyahu “ran away” and instead brought Liberman’s five-strong Yisrael Beytenu faction into the coalition. The prime minister signed a coalition deal with Liberman last Wednesday.
In the Knesset last Monday, Netanyahu urged Herzog from the podium to reopen talks with him, but Herzog refused.
As reported by The Times of Israel