Yesh Atid chief said hoping to announce a prospective government by 11 a.m. Wednesday; Yamina insists Shaked get spot on judicial appointments panel; Ra'am optimistic
Yamina MK Amichai Chikli at the Knesset swearing-in ceremony on April 5, 2021. (Olivier Fitousi/Flash90)
Yamina MK Amichai Chikli reiterated on Saturday that he would not serve in a potential unity government presided over by his own party leader, saying that a gut feeling led him to make the difficult decision.
“This was one of the weightiest decisions I’ve ever made. Just a feeling of distress that accumulated, a feeling that this wasn’t me and that I wasn’t at peace with it,” he told Channel 12, referring to his statements from earlier in the week when he said he would vote against a government that included the predominantly-Arab Joint List party or left-wing Meretz.
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Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett (left) and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid during the swearing-in ceremony of the 24th Knesset, at the Knesset building in Jerusalem, April 6, 2021. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool)
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Yamina chair Naftali Bennett are trying to expedite coalition negotiations in order to swear in a new government as early as Tuesday this week, sources in the “change bloc” told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
According to the sources, the haste comes over concerns with respect to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to convince Yamina members to oppose the government, following the announcement last week of MK Amichai Chikli that he will vote against it.
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David Horovitz is the founding editor of The Times of Israel. He is the author of Still Life with Bombers (2004) and A Little Too Close to God (2000), and co-author of Shalom Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin (1996). He previously edited The Jerusalem Post (2004-2011) and The Jerusalem Report (1998-2004).
Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (File; courtesy)
Announcing that Benjamin Netanyahu had informed the president he was unable to form a government by the midnight Tuesday-Wednesday deadline, the Likud party placed the blame for the failure squarely and solely on Yamina leader Naftali Bennett.