New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to resign and clear the way for the formation of a new government with a new premier.
“For the 4th time in two years,” Sa’ar tweeted Friday afternoon, “Netanyahu has failed and not succeeded in achieving a parliamentary majority of 61.”
“Without Netanyahu, a stable government can be formed easily and quickly. If Israel is more important to Netanyahu than continuing to hold on to power, he must finally draw the patriotic conclusion.”
“I call on Netanyahu: move aside, free Israel and allow the country to move forward.”
The comments came shortly after Yisrael Beytenu chief Avidgor Liberman and Yesh Atid chairman and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid met to discuss options for forming an alternative government.
Earlier on Friday, Kuwait’s Al-Jarida reported that Natan Eshel, a close confidant of Netanyahu, met with Joint Arab List MKs Ahmed Tibi and Osama Saadi, both members of the Joint Arab List’s Ta’al faction.
During the meeting, Eshel reportedly offered the two a pair of positions in exchange for helping Netanyahu form a new government. The positions are said to have included Minister for Arab Affairs and Deputy Minister for Combating Violence in the Arab Sector.
The two reportedly said they would seriously consider the offer.
The Central Elections Committee released the final results of this week's elections for the 24th Knesset Thursday evening, showing that the Likud and its likely allies on the Right received just 59 seats – with Yamina included – two short of a majority.
While some in the Likud have floated the idea of building a minority government supported from the Opposition by the United Arab List’s (Ra’am) four Knesset Members, Religious Zionist Party chief Bezalel Smotrich vowed not to join such a government, leaving Netanyahu short of the needed 61 seats, even if the UAL were included.