Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor LibermanYonatan Sindel/Flash90

The Yisrael Beyteinu faction announced Tuesday that it would not change its decision not to recommend a candidate for prime minister to President Reuven Rivlin.

MK Oded Forer, informed the Director of the President's Residence, Harel Tobi, that the faction's position remains the same and that a broad national unity government is needed.

"Therefore, there is no question about who will be the prime minister, but what the government policy will be. Therefore, there is no change in our position and we will not recommend any of the candidates to form the government," said Forer.

Last night, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the return of the mandate to the president after failing to form a new government at the time allotted to him.

"Since receiving the mandate, I have been working in open and in secret to establish a broad national unity government. This is what the people want. This is also what Israel needs in the face of ever-increasing security challenges," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"Over the past few weeks, I have made every effort to bring Benny Gantz to the negotiating table and form a broad national government and prevent further elections. Unfortunately, time and time again, he simply refused. He persisted in his refusal even after I had previously accepted his request to meet with the chief of staff he presented. He faces the full range of threats and challenges facing Israel," he said,

"Unfortunately, Gantz's refusal indicates one thing. Gantz remains a captive in the hands of Lapid and Liberman. Lapid wants his downfall and Liberman is seeking to avoid foreign considerations pertaining to his personal affairs. Gantz, Lapid and Liberman only talk about unity, but in practice they do the opposite. They disqualify the religious, but who are they not disqualifying? The members of the Joint Arab List are aligned with them all the way to a left-wing minority government," Netanyahu added.