Netanyahu Appeals to Right Unity Against the Challenge of an All-Opposition Government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem after the March 23 elections Ariel Schalit / AP

"Come home."

In a televised intervention in prime time, Benjamin Netanyahu appealed on Wednesday night to two dissident parties of the conservative bloc to reintegrate under his command in a "government of unity".

Either the right follows at the helm of Israel or chaos will come in the form of the Executive of the entire opposition, was the apocalyptic message launched by the prime minister after having failed a week ago in his attempt to consolidate a majority in the fourth legislative held. in two years in Israel.

The extreme polarization and political blockade have left the wing of conservative and religious parties led by Netanyahu's Likud at the gates of an absolute majority, with 52 of the 120 seats in the Knesset (Parliament), and at the expense of deciding to his favor, with seven other deputies, the nationalist Yamina party, led by former minister Naftali Bennett.

In contrast, the so-called front of change adds a scraped majority of 61 parliamentarians among a heterogeneous opposition that ranges from the Israeli Arab parties - which aspire to represent a fifth of the country's population - to the split right of the Likud, passing through the Labor Left and the Center Liberals.

Netanyahu's first public intervention since the election night of the 23rd was marked by an unusual tone of alarm and exceptionality.

The Likud leader invited Bennett and also former conservative minister Gideon Saar - who with his Nueva Esperanza party has won six seats - to "return to their natural space."

"The voters have spoken with a clear voice in support of a strong and stable right-wing government," he stressed.

Saar broke with Netanyahu last December after challenging his leadership in the Likud in an internal primaries.

Unlike Bennett, who has been ambivalent, this conservative leader with a temperate speech and an ultra-nationalist program sided with the opposition during the electoral campaign to defend a “Government of change” after more than 12 interrupted terms of Netanyahu.

"Let us put our past disagreements aside and form a broad government of the right, as the people want," said the prime minister in defense of his thesis of concentrating all conservative parties with a solid majority of 65 seats in the Knesset.

"Any other government formula [other than the great right] will imply an unstable left coalition that will dissolve quickly," emphasized the acting prime minister, who warned of an inevitable setback in the achievements of the mass vaccination campaign. and the agreements for the normalization of relations with Arab countries.

"It would be a disaster for Israel and its economy," he warned.

The message back home didn't seem to be working.

After Netanyahu's intervention, Bennett continued with his equidistant speech between the government bloc and that of the opposition.

"We do not seek the distribution of power, but the best for the interest of the citizens," his party settled the issue with an evasive statement, quoted by the

Haaretz

newspaper

.

Saar was more specific on Twitter, ignoring the offer from his former head of ranks.

"If Netanyahu remains in power, he will act for his own benefit and not Israel's," he warned.

"He has to clear the way for us to move on."

• Israel implements the digital pass for access to gyms and shows exclusively for the vaccinated

• Israel's President Pressures Netanyahu and Gantz to Form a Unity Government

Netanyahu unleashed an electoral cycle at the end of 2018 that seems to have no end.

Its main objective was to secure a governmental coalition with an absolute majority to protect itself from the action of justice.

The President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, will begin the consultations for the formation of the Government next Monday.

That same day, Netanyahu is scheduled to appear before the Jerusalem court that is trying him for three cases of bribery, fraud and abuse of power.

After receiving the results of the elections on Wednesday, Rivlin was in favor of "unconventional alliances" - alluding to the inclusion of Arab parties in the investiture agreements - in order to avoid the automatic calling of the fifth elections in little more than two years.

Even if it is at the cost of the re-election of the prime minister.