JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday scorned as “dangerous” and “left-wing” a cross-partisan coalition cobbled together by his rivals to …
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday scorned as “dangerous” and “left-wing” a cross-partisan coalition cobbled together by his rivals to unseat him, even as the nationalist named to lead it echoed his hard line on the Palestinians. Netanyahu, facing the prospect of an end to his 12-year run as premier, mounted the social media attack the day after centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid’s announcement, about 35 minutes before a Wednesday night deadline, that he had succeeded in forming a governing coalition. Under the deal, nationalist Naftali Bennett,49, a former defence minister and a high-tech millionaire, would become prime minister and hand over the post to Lapid,57, a former TV host and finance minister, in about two years. A parliamentary session, in which the government can be approved by a simple majority, could be up to 12 days away, far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman, a member of the new coalition, said. With parliament’s Speaker, a Netanyahu loyalist, widely expected to try to ward off any legislative attempts to hold the vote earlier, the prime minister could use the period to try to twist arms. “All legislators elected by votes from the right must oppose this dangerous left-wing government,” Netanyahu tweeted, in rhetoric aimed at drawing defectors from Bennett’s slate. Yet Bennett set out positions on Israel’s most immediate foreign and security policy problem – how and if to accommodate Palestinians’ statehood goal – that hewed close to Netanyahu’s. “The national struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is not over territory. The Palestinians do not recognise our very existence here, and it appears this will be the case for some time,” the prime minister-designate said in an interview.
