Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuLiron Moldovan/POOL/Flash90

An Arab lawmaker pushed back Tuesday against denials by the Likud that the party had tried to forge a new coalition government this year with the support of the United Arab List (Ra’am).

MK Walid Taha (UAL), tweeted Tuesday afternoon, pushing back against comments by MK Yariv Levin (Likud).

Taha rejected claims by the Likud that then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never tried to form a new government after the March 2021 elections by including the UAL in a new coalition.

“Honorable Yariv Levin,” wrote Taha, “all of the meetings with the UAL were held at the time in order to enable Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government, with a clear understanding that the Likud would sign a coalition agreement with the UAL.”

Taha’s tweet came in response to Levin’s claim that the Likud have never offered to include the UAL in a new government coalition.

“At every meeting with [UAL chief Mansour] Abbas at Balfour, it was made clear to him that we had no intention of forming a government based on the support or relying on the UAL,” Levin said.

On Monday, UAL chief MK Mansour Abbas revealed details of his meetings with then-Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying Netanyahu had met with him at the Prime Minister’s Office four times, and that the meetings were part of an effort to form a new Likud-led government with the help of the UAL. The plan was torpedoed by the Religious Zionist Party, which vowed to vote against such a coalition.

Since the meetings with Abbas, Netanyahu has condemned the current Bennett government for relying on the UAL, accusing the government of being “in the hands of Abbas.”