Has Abbas's fortunes already fallen? Likud senior officials: "Netanyahu prefers to accept a second term""

March 31, 2021   

A senior member of the Ra'am party says that the party led by MK Mansour Abbas has made a decision in principle to support a coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu from outside. This was reported this morning (Wednesday) by Israel Hayom's Arab affairs correspondent, Daniel Siriotti. According to the senior member, the decision to support a coalition led by Netanyahu from outside does not guarantee that Ra'am will recommend Netanyahu's candidacy to form a government. He added that the decision to support a coalition led by Netanyahu may still change if Ra'am's demands are not met. The RAAM will demand that Itamar Ben-Gvir not be given an operational role or any senior ministerial appointment. The party will also demand that the budgets for the Arab Society for the fight against crime in the sector be significantly increased, and they will also demand that the Kaminitz Law be suspended and that it be repealed or at least significant changes be made to the Nation-State Law. He also said that the decision in principle to support the coalition led by him from the outside stemmed from several key reasons: "First and foremost, the fact that the Change Bloc does not have any serious candidate for prime minister, and in this situation, a government led by Lapid, even with the support of RAAM, would be unstable and would end its days shortly after it is formed. A government led by Netanyahu's bloc would be more stable and would help us achieve the goals we set for Arab society." He added: "Even before we split from the Joint List, we were scolded and criticized for committing political suicide, and we proved the opposite, after the Arab public gave us the mandate and trust in the path we proposed. For 30 years, we tried the separatist path and got nowhere. It's time to change." MK Abbas is also being courted by the parties of the 'Boycott Bloc', and has already met with party leaders MK Yair Lapid, MK Benny Gantz, and MK Merav Michaeli. In the Netanyahu bloc, the one who is currently raising difficulties about any cooperation with Abbas is the chairman of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, who is currently refusing to form a government while cooperating with MK Abbas. Senior Likud officials quoted in the newspaper 'Israel Hayom' say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers not to be the first to receive the mandate to form a government. According to them, there is indeed a risk in this, but if the Yesh Atid chairman fails, Netanyahu's chances of succeeding will actually increase. According to the report, the main concern in the Likud is the Gideon Saar-Reuven Rivlin axis. A senior party official mentioned that the president of the state is considered very close to Saar, who even served as his campaign headquarters in the presidential race, and the concern is that Saar will outline the process of obtaining the mandate according to what is best for him and his party, which is naturally the opposite of what is best for the Likud. Meanwhile, no compromise is in sight in the bloc opposing Netanyahu. Kan B reported that senior Blue and White officials who are trying to mediate between Lapid and Bennett say that the parties are entrenched in their positions and there is currently no way to renew the dialogue. According to them, Bennett is not willing to discuss anything related to the anti-Netanyahu bloc as long as he is not guaranteed that he will be first in the rotation for the position of prime minister. On the other hand, Lapid is also not willing to give up on the matter.