With the ceasefire between Jerusalem and Hamas holding, politicians in Israel refocused their efforts on untangling the political imbroglio, Sunday.
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With just nine days left for Yesh Atid party head Yair Lapid to form the next government, Likud officials are working to consolidate a majority of 61-Knesset members to back a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, senior Likud officials say previous offers will no longer be on the table, and neither Yamina head Naftali Bennett, New Hope head Gideon Sa'ar, nor Blue and White party head will be offered a rotation deal.
A senior Likud official told Israel Hayom: "The ideas of Naftali Bennett being prime minister first are irrelevant. … It's not practical. The question is whether we will succeed in getting somewhere with him that will give him the status of being No. 2 in the government. I'm not sure we can get there. We're trying."
According to the official, Bennett suddenly remembered he was interested in the offer Netanyahu made him three weeks ago. That offer, which Bennett declined, included a rotation deal for one year and his pick of 18 representatives to fill the Likud party's top 40 slots.
"Netanyahu will not offer a rotation. In today's public reality, it won't work, especially after Bennett picked the other side. That's not how it works. You can't try to get [something] from the other side and then come back to us and get a de-facto six Knesset seats and get the premiership. It can't be," he said.
Nevertheless, they said: "If we close a deal with Bennett quickly, we have a good chance at forming a government, either Gideon will come over or his people will come over. They know they won't survive the election. I believe that right before they disappear, every single one will come, but none of them will come if we don't close with Bennett."
As for the possibility Israel would head to a fifth round of elections, the Likud official said, "I don't think it's headed that direction. Either Bennet will reconnect with the other side or at the last minute, to avoid elections, people will climb down from their tree and arrive at a normal arrangement."
Yet on Lapid's side, too, officials reiterated Bennett was no longer part of the "pro-change" bloc. Nevertheless, bloc members said they believed the offer for the premiership was irrelevant, but that if Bennett wanted to join as a minister, they would be open to meet.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett exchanged barbs, Sunday, as the political process in the country returned to peacetime activity following an 11-day military escalation with Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Bennett took to Facebook to blast Netanyahu for his leadership during the recent military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying "I cannot recall another period defined by weakness, dysfunction, and national embarrassment."
He said Netanyahu "appointed mediocre people, who in turn appoint mediocre people" and that his decision-making process was dictated by personal and political considerations. "All this through the creation of a smokescreen of a cult of personality … in which anyone who dares to criticize him comes under severe attack," he said.
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"Whoever drags the country into a fifth election, into more hatred and toxicity, into another year of dysfunction, and a huge waste of money - is playing into the hands of those who want to harm us," Bennett wrote.
In a statement, Netanyahu's Likud party took aim at Bennett's efforts to form a government with the "pro-change" bloc.
"There are certain politicians who speak right but act left. While they publish posts and articles that are supposedly 'right-wing'… Even after Hamas' murderous attacks, the violent riots inside Israel, and renewed talk of a Palestinian state that would be a giant Hamastan, they continue to act to establish a government that would be dependent on the Joint [Arab List] and the left-wing parties of Lapid, Meretz, and Labor."
Bennett and Netanyahu tried to reach an agreement earlier this year when President Reuven Rivlin entrusted Netanyahu with the mandate to form a government; however, the talks fell through.
In the meantime, Yesh Atid announced its negotiation team would renew talks with other parties, although not including Yamina at this time. Yesh Atid officials were set to speak to representatives of Meretz, Labor, and Yisrael Beytenu before meeting with New Hope head Gideon Sa'ar.
In addition to legislation to establish a state commission of inquiry into the Lag B'Omer stampede that killed 45 revelers on Mount Meron, Yesh Atid plans to propose term limits for the premiership as well as a prohibition on tasking a lawmaker under indictment with forming a government at a meeting of the Knesset's Arrangements Committee, Monday.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
