Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter to Knesset Speaker MK Benny Gantz and President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday evening announcing that he had succeeded in forming a government..
Netanyahu intends, if the contacts with Yamina succeed, to keep the Education Ministry open for one of the party's MKs. However, the distance between the positions of the Likud and Yamina parties remain large.
Earlier, Yamina chairman Defense Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu in an attempt to reach a compromise that would allow the party to join the unity government.
During the conversation, the prime minister said that the Likud's proposal has not changed and will not change and that the proposal on the table is the Jerusalem Portfolio, a deputy minister with responsibility for national service and settlement, part-chairmanship of the absorption committee and another ministry.
The conversation ended without an agreement.
At the end, Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on Twitter, "The decision is Netanyahu's. As I said from the beginning, we want to enter the government only if we have influence. Impact is entirely derived from areas of responsibility. If the prime minister wants us in positions of influence, we would love to come in. If the prime minister wants us marginalized, weak and influential, we would prefer to go to the opposition."
Sources in Yamina said: "The words senior economic portfolio were not mentioned in the conversation, nor was the education portfolio. Netanyahu said "another portfolio " without specifying which one. The meaning: the offer has been lessened."