Former Defense Minister and Yamina party chairman Naftali Bennett is examining the possibility of forming a government headed by himself together with Yair Lapid, Gideon Sa'ar, Avigdor Liberman and Benny Gantz, with the aim of preventing the holding of fifth elections in Israel.
Channel 12 News reported that the Yamina party is demanding it receive the decisive vote in the government, so that it will be a center-right government in accordance with the will of the public as reflected in the election results.
The Yamina party is also insisting on leaving in right wing hands the ideologically sensitive portfolios such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Homeland Security and the Ministry of Education, in addition of course to the post of prime minister that Naftali Bennett would fill.
This morning (Monday), President Reuven Rivlin began his round of consultations with representatives of all the factions in the Knesset as part of the procedure for choosing the candidate to receive the mandate for forming a government out of the Knesset’s various parties. President Rivlin has expressed his growing concerns about whether or not any of the candidates have the potential for a functional government at this stage.
Ministers Ofir Akunis, Tzachi Hanegbi and Amir Ohana from the Likud were the first to be received by the President, and presented to him their recommendation for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to form the government.
In response to the recommendation, Rivlin told Likud representatives that he was taking more than the number of representations into account when making his decision.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to receive the most recommendations to form the next government after the New Hope Party declined to recommend anyone.