Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn't trying to form a coalition; he's working to quash the efforts of the other side.
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Two days after receiving the mandate, Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich made clear he would refuse to join a coalition government reliant on the Islamist Ra'am party's outside support. It was at that precise moment Netanyahu realized he had reached a dead end.
After a few more attempts to on one hand convince Smotrich to agree to such a move and on the other hand call for New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar to return to the Likud, all the while fishing for defectors from various parties along the way, the prime minister's main efforts are now directed at ensuring he leaves nothing but scorched earth in his wake: It's either Netanyahu or elections. There is no other way.
When the Likud suffered a stinging defeat at the influential Arrangements Committee, Netanyahu saw the worst possible scenario taking shape before his eyes. Just as all of the forces interested in ousting him from office had come together then, they may very well band together to oust him from the premiership in two weeks.
It should be noted that the move at the Arrangements Committee was carried out without Yamina leader Naftali Bennett's assistance. Bennett, of course, had agreed to support Netanyahu at the committee at the last minute. Should Yamina join the 61 Knesset members that came together on Monday, the camp of "change" (or is it "hatred"?) will grow to 68 members. That would make for a substantial force that cannot be ignored.
Bennett was the target of Netanyahu's attack. It's hard to shake the feeling the cold political considerations that led Netanyahu to direct his anger at Bennet may also have been informed by personal preferences. Still, for Netanyahu, Bennett is a strategic target because if any party can give the kosher stamp to a Right-Left-Arab alternative government, it's Yamina.
While Netanyahu's public call and his accusations are directed at Bennett, below the surface, he is sending out signals to Yamina members Ayelet Shaked and Avraham Kara. Likud officials say the prime minister needs two people to say they will refuse to sit in a government that stretches from centrist Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party to Meretz, Labor, and the Joint Arab List. All of his actions, public declarations, and initiatives – including his calls for direct elections for prime minister – are directed at this goal. He doesn't need Ra'am anymore. As he said last week, he has no plans to be the one to give the Islamist party his stamp of approval for the other side of the political aisle. Well, assuming it's too late for such a move anyway.
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