Even after the final results were confirmed, the political situation remained deadlocked as ever. Every scenario of a merger between parties will require someone to break a campaign promise, defectors are hard to spot at this stage and if nothing changes, a fifth election is not unrealistic.
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After the "anyone-but-Bibi" crossed the 61-mandate line, Gideon Sa'ar said: "There is no majority for establishing a Netanyahu-led government. Now we must work to exhaust the possibility of forming a government of change. Ego won't be a factor." His New Hope party mate, Yifat Shasha-Biton, told Channel 12 News on Thursday that the party "prevented Benjamin Netanyahu from reaching 61 mandates."
She added: "We're under immense pressure to join the Likud, I've been approached with every possible proposal, but it won't happen. We want change." Shasha-Biton then reiterated her party's campaign promise not to lean on the Joint Arab List. "We said during the campaign that we wouldn't do this. We're aiming toward the Zionist parties; aiming toward a right-center government."
What the "anyone-but-Netanyahu" camp plans to do is seize the Knesset Speaker position and then pass legislation that won't allow Netanyahu to serve as prime minister under indictment. On this matter, Avigdor Lieberman said he was "committed to doing everything to prevent another election. The first phase runs through the bill that prevents an MK under indictment from being a candidate to form a government. I expect all the sides that yearn for the change which we've spoken of in recent months to be responsible and vote for this proposed legislation. The basic condition for forming a government of change is [Yamina Chairman Naftali] Bennett's consent to come aboard."
MK Miki Zohar (Likud) responded to Lieberman, saying: "Personalized legislation against Netanyahu will be a travesty for generations and paint us a dark regime in the eyes of the world. In a democracy, only the public chooses who leads the country."
Meanwhile, as the Netanyahu-led bloc continues in its search for defectors, Religious Zionist Chairman Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday dumped cold water on the possibility of relying on Mansour Abbas' Ra'am party.
"A right-wing government that relies on Ra'am will not exist. Period. Not from inside [the coalition], not from the outside, not with the help of abstentions, not with any other bluff." According to Smotrich, "The supporters of terror who deny Israel's existence as a Jewish state are not a legitimate partner to any government. The hypocrisy of the Left – which persecutes Netanyahu despite his great achievements for the State of Israel – in attempting to replace him, is willing to sell Israel out to those who identify with the worst of its enemies – is something to which we've become accustomed. This won't happen. Not on my watch."
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