Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday met with Head of the Ra’am Party Mansour Abbas to discuss forming a coalition government, Israeli media reported.
Abbas, according to Ynet News, presented his movement’s demands to Lapid. The demands included scrapping the Nation-State Law, having the freedom to vote on pro-LGBT bills, freezing the Kaminitz Law, recognizing unrecognized Arab towns in the Negev, and fighting crime among the Arab community in Israel.
Yesh Atid leader @yairlapid and United Arab List (Ra’am) head Mansour Abbas agreed to meet by the end of the week.#IsraElex4 https://t.co/YtJAKlIToW
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) March 24, 2021
Both Abbas and Lapid issued brief statements following their meeting, stating that they had agreed to continue their communications.
Following Tuesday’s election, Ra’am has emerged as a kingmaker as both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lapid’s Yesh Atid lacked enough seats in the Knesset to enable either party to form a coalition government.
Right-wing pro-Netanyahu hardliners, including Head of the Fascist Religious Zionism Party Bezalel Smotrich, have rejected joining a coalition including Arab MKs or reliant on an Arab party.
Ra'am (United Arab List) head Mansour Abbas, who holds the key to the formation of the next government, met with Yesh Atid leader @YairLapid and Likud MK Ayoub Kara, as both sides attempted to woo him in order to build a coalition.#IsraElex4https://t.co/48mny6xUOw
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) March 29, 2021
This also came following a Likud meeting with Abbas, during which they discussed prospects of the latter’s participation in a Likud-led government.
Ynet News reported that Abbas met with Lapid after realizing that joining a right-wing government may not be a viable option, pointing out that his meeting with Lapid came after several postponements.
The bloc consisting of Likud and its pro-right-wing parties have 59 seats out of 120. The left-wing, along with the anti-Netanyahu parties, has 57. Abbas, the current kingmaker, has five seats.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
