All eyes are on Sunday night in Israel on the leader of the radical right Naftali Bennett, likely to announce his rallying to the centrist Yair Lapid and the project of "
government of change
" which would precipitate the end of the Netanyahu era.
Opposition leader Yaïr Lapid has relaunched negotiations with the main parties elected to Parliament on March 23 in recent days to form a government on an anti-Benjamin Netanyahu program, the most lasting Prime Minister in the country's history.
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The mandate Mr. Lapid received in early May from President Reuven Rivlin, after Mr. Netanyahu's failure to form a coalition, runs until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
After weeks marked by the 11-day war between ruling Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Hebrew state, tensions in East Jerusalem and clashes in Judeo-Arab towns in Israel, Yair Lapid revived on Friday his offer for a “
government of national unity
”.
He wrote on Facebook wanting a coalition that says "
we are here together, our struggle is common, this country is our common responsibility
".
"
Government of change
"
To achieve this, Mr. Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party (“
There is a future
”), is counting on the support of the left, the center and two right-wing parties, totaling 51 deputies. But in this final sprint, he still had to convince the radical right-wing Yamina formation of Naftali Bennett (7 seats) and the Arab deputies to join him to obtain a majority of 61 seats in the Knesset.
Mr. Bennett brought together his party's cadres on Sunday and, according to the Israeli press, he would have received their approval to join Yair Lapid in a "
government of change
", as the anti-Netanyahu clan has put it. Mr. Bennett is reserving his "
announcements
" for an official address scheduled for 8 p.m., according to one of his spokespersons. Mr. Netanyahu will speak in the wake at 8:30 p.m., according to his Likud party.
In a video posted earlier today on Twitter, he called on Mr. Bennett and Gideon Saar, leader of a small right-wing party, to “
come, now, right away
”, start talks for a government coalition, on the principle of a rotation at its head, starting with Mr. Saar, then MM. Netanyahu and Bennett. “
We are at a crucial time for the security and the future of the State of Israel,
” he pleaded. Former Likud, Gideon Saar indicated on Twitter that he was not interested and remained faithful to his project: "to
replace the Netanyahu regime
". An agreement between MM. Lapid and Bennett would be an event in pushing out Mr. Netanyahu, who spent 15 years in power.