Tonight (Wednesday), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the statement of Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett and sharply attacked him.
"The majority of the public wants me to continue to lead the country in a stable right-wing government. The public has given the right 65 seats to appoint a stable government that will take care of all Israeli citizens without exception," Netanyahu began.
"I heard Naftali Bennett. Contrary to your claims, you are doing everything in order to not form a right-wing government. You are willing to do anything to be a prime minister with seven seats. The only way to do that is to lead the left-wing government of Lapid, Meretz and Labor and with support from the Joint List," the prime minister said.
He said, "You call it a national unity government. It is a transparent attempt to deceive the public. In practice it is a government with all the MKs of the left and the far left. It is a spit in the face of democracy and the explicit commitments you have made. You said a prime minister could not serve with ten seats ... You call yourself right and in practice you go left."
Netanyahu further claimed, "Naftali, you did not negotiate with us. You only demanded a rotation. You closed a deal with Lapid."
Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed that the solution now is to support direct elections for prime minister. "If you wanted to form a right-wing government, you would support a direct election for prime minister without dissolving the Knesset. And you would not say you would support it only at the end of the process because you know it will be too late," Netanyahu said in a statement.