I will bet that Bibi will lose, based on Liberman going over to opposition, as he has always despised Netanyahu
By Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor
Two key Netanyahu rivals reach agreement to unseat Israel’s longest-sitting PM
…from PressTV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: There is a corny old saying, “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy”. Unfortunately, if Bibi loses his Prime Minister immunity and gets convicted via his ongoing trial, we will have to create a new saying of, “It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.”
That said, in Israeli politics the appropriate saying would be “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
We will not know for sure what is going to happen until midnight. And rest assured that Bibi has planned for some last minute hat tricks to use in case of imminent defeat in remaining Prime Minister.
Such could include major incentives to snare a couple of key MPs away from the prospective opposition coalition list. The Blue and White coalition serves as a perfect example, with Benny Gantz flipping over to join Bibi in a joint-Prime Ministership with a second rotation slot for Gantz, but which Bibi never had any intention of honoring.
I will bet that Bibi will lose, based on Liberman going over to opposition, as he has always despised Netanyahu, and possibly sees a chance of getting him out of office and maybe into a jail cell. With victory so close, Liberman would join the coalition to counter Bibi snatching a couple of MPs away from the current opposition list. We will know soon… Jim W. Dean ]
First published … June 02, 2021
Israel’s so-called centrist opposition figure Yair Lapid is closer than ever to unseating 12-year prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu after reaching an agreement to form a coalition cabinet.
Several parties including Lapid’s Yesh Atid party agreed with Israeli minister of military affairs Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party to form a new cabinet.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, Yesh Atid and Blue and White parties said they had agreed that Gantz would remain the minister of military affairs in the new cabinet.
Lapid has until midnight Wednesday to present a final slate, after Netanyahu failed to do so in the wake of an inconclusive March 23 election.
The 57-year-old Netanyahu has yet to reach a deal with his main partner, Naftali Bennett, who would serve as premier first under a proposed rotation between the two.
According to a Lapid spokesman, agreements have been reached with the left-wing Meretz and center-left Labor parties as well as with former war minister Avigdor Lieberman’s extremist Yisrael Beitenu party.
If Lapid fails to meet the Wednesday deadline, Israel’s Knesset will have three weeks to agree on a new candidate. And if that fails as well, the entity will have to hold its fifth election in some two years.
Netanyahu has said Bennett is trying to form a “leftist” ruling structure that would ensure his rise to premiership.
In remarks on Sunday, he said Bennett was trying to pre-empt another election, because “he knows that his party will not secure enough votes.”
Bennett, Netanyahu said, had been sowing “discord, division, and hatred” against him.
Such a “leftist” ruling coalition would present “a danger for the security” of the Israeli regime, he said, adding, “Imagine what would happen in Iran, Gaza, and Washington, should a leftist coalition take shape.”
