After Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu failed to form a government, President Reuven Richlin asked Yesh Atid leader, Yair Lapid, to do so. Yesh Atid is a centrist party.
Lapid and Yamina chair, Naftali Bennett, have held meetings with political leaders about a unity government. The Labour party is also included in those discussions. Yamina is a coalition of right-wing parties and Labour is a social democratic and Zionist party.
Bennett also held a meeting with New Hope leader, Gideon Sa’ar. Lapid said in a statement that the discussions “advanced positively.” New Hope is a centre-right party.
Lapid and Bennett are reportedly closing in on agreements in many areas, with Lapid saying he is ready to let Bennett serve first as prime minister in a rotation agreement.
Bennett met separately with Labour party leader Merav Michaeli before he and Lapid met with Blue and White leader, Benny Gantz. Blue and White is centrist and liberal.
Michaeli’s partner, comedian Lior Schleien, tweeted: “The head of a party with six seats is trying to explain to the head of a party with 7 seats why he should be prime minister and she should be agriculture minister. I miss the tap dancer who used to live in the apartment above me, he annoyed me less.”
Meetings have been held with Meretz and Yisrael Beiteinu. Meretz is left-wing, social-democratic and green. Yisrael Beiteinu is secular, centre-right to right-wing and nationalist.
As regards entering into agreements across the political spectrum, which is united in its aim to replace Netanyahu, a source said
“Whatever passes will pass — and what falls will fall.”
The parties not included are Netanyahu’s Likud and far-right religious parties.
The situation is a consequence of the fourth election in two years.