Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein says legal framework to reinstate the 21st Knesset exists but stresses he will not pursue move unless it is assured the support of at least 80 MKs. Likud insiders say unity government with Blue and White is an option only if faction sidelines Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid.
In letter to Habayit Hayehudi leader Rafi Peretz, Otzma Yehudit officials say they feel like they were "used and thrown out" after the April 9 election.
Likud party blasts Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman's assertions that PM Benjamin Netanyahu is working to form a government with the Arab parties as "fake news, detached from reality."
Habayit Hayehudi leader Rafi Peretz: I plan to be everyone’s education minister. National Union chief Bezalel Smotrich: The importance of entering the government at this time lies with the declaration of intent on the coalition partnership going forward.
Avigdor Lieberman says that after the September election his party will aim to see government include Likud, Blue and White, exclude Shas and United Torah Judaism. Likud: Lieberman has shown voters his true colors, he aims to install a left-wing government.
At Bar-Ilan University conference, Bezalel Smotrich, co-leader of United Right, says, "We must focus on what we have in common and unite, leave behind past differences and disputes, overcome our egos and come together."
Amid infighting on the Right, United Right leader Bezalel Smotrich says, "We all share the goal of establishing a right-wing government. The only way to get there is for there to be one big right-wing party to the Right of the Likud."
In Twitter post criticizing the party's political culture, Avi Gabbay says, "I have decided to follow my heart and my truth and take myself off of the list for the next Knesset." Labor is in crisis, "and I do not absolve myself of responsibility," he says.
The decision, he says on Facebook, was the next logical step in light of Labor’s poor showing in the April 9 general election, which saw the party dwindle to just six mandates.
Labor central committee has offered Gabbay, under whose leadership the party saw the worst electoral result in its history, the No. 2 slot if he steps down as leader. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Tal Russo leaves politics after only four months.
