Five days after Israel's 26th Knesset election, MK Yair Lapid (Beyachad) met with Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman on Sunday. The meeting followed talks on Saturday between Liberman and Yashar! Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, their first since the election, as leaders of the anti-Netanyahu bloc sought to develop a coordinated strategy.
Neither Lapid's nor Liberman's party has publicly commented on their meeting, but the bloc is determined to project unity. On Monday, Liberman is scheduled to convene his party's Knesset members at its headquarters in Modiin for the first time since the election. Journalists will then be invited to an off-the-record briefing.
Conversations between Israel Hayom and members of the various parties in the bloc suggest a growing possibility that another election is more likely than the formation of a new government.
Nevertheless, the parties are working to keep the bloc intact and, at the very least, coordinate their moves in the Knesset. Their priorities include replacing Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and repealing legislation associated with the judicial overhaul: the law concerning the Police Internal Investigations Department, the law governing the powers of the attorney general, the law changing the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, and the communications law advanced by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.
