Report: Netanyahu Has Last Chance to Form Gov’t

 Netanyahu in one of his electoral campaign’s appearances on September 13, 2022. (AP)
Netanyahu in one of his electoral campaign’s appearances on September 13, 2022. (AP)
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Report: Netanyahu Has Last Chance to Form Gov’t

 Netanyahu in one of his electoral campaign’s appearances on September 13, 2022. (AP)
Netanyahu in one of his electoral campaign’s appearances on September 13, 2022. (AP)

Senior Likud politicians are plotting to dismiss party leader Benjamin Netanyahu if his bloc fails to win a majority in the upcoming elections.

Top party members told the Times of Israel’s Hebrew site, Zman Yisrael, that Netanyahu would be offered almost full control of the party but keep him out of government, which would allow Likud to form a center-right coalition government with parties that are currently refusing to sit with the former prime minister.

According to the emerging plan, which is being drafted behind Netanyahu’s back, he would remain head of the Likud party and be a senior member of the next Knesset, but would not be part of an envisaged unity government that would be formed with Benny Gantz and Gideon Saar’s National Unity party and other potential partners.

In this scenario, Netanyahu would pick a Likud member to serve as prime minister in an agreed-upon rotation with Gantz.

Netanyahu has launched a vigorous election campaign, which has included meeting activists across the country, holding events and posting viral videos.

However, most recent polls still predict a political stalemate in the November 1 vote, prompting prominent Likud politicians to prepare for a scenario in which Netanyahu’s bloc fails to reach the 61 seat majority it needs to form a government.

Netanyahu’s bloc, made up of right-wing and religious parties, would reach 59 seats in the next Knesset, while the bloc of coalition parties led by Lapid would reach 57 seats in this scenario.

“Nobody wants a sixth election. Netanyahu doesn’t want to be seen as the reason for another round of elections,” a senior Likud Knesset member who supports the initiative told Zman Israel on condition of anonymity.

“We will reach an understanding that allows Netanyahu to serve as head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” the official said.

“Netanyahu will also remain leader of the Likud party and will get to choose the ministers as if he’d won the elections. He will be able to continue with his ongoing trial. It’s none of our business.”

Netanyahu would be expected to reject such a move, having rejected similar plans in the past.

In September, he vowed to continue to lead his right-religious bloc should he fail to form a government.

The Likud MK said that those involved in the plan hope it would placate Netanyahu and Gantz, who has vowed not to sit again with Netanyahu after being denied his turn as prime minister in a 2020-2021 coalition between the parties.

“Netanyahu would monitor the ministers’ work from outside the government,” the MK concluded, “just like (Shas’s leader) Aryeh Deri did when he was not allowed to serve as a minister.”

“The question is whether Gantz and his friends will agree to follow suit and won’t fear being tricked by Netanyahu again,” the official noted.

“I think they might. What might convince them is that Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir won’t necessarily be part of this government,” the official said referring to the far-right Religious Zionism party.

The Likud source also conceded that there could be difficulty getting other Likud members to agree to a scenario that could see one of their rivals appointed prime minister.

“The only friction point will be about the identity of the alternate prime minister. Yariv Levin could be an acceptable candidate because he won the party’s primaries, but I’m not sure senior politicians like Nir Barkat or Israel Katz will let that happen, even if we’re only talking about a temporary role,” the official added.

According to the report, the initiative has already been opposed by some in Likud.

Barkat’s associates have demanded holding primaries for the Likud leadership in the event that Netanyahu doesn’t manage to reach 61 seats.

An unnamed political associate of Barkat told Zman Yisrael earlier this week that “the Likud leadership is not interested in sixth elections. It won’t happen. If Netanyahu doesn’t reach a majority, we will demand new primaries. This isn’t a monarchy in which he passes on the baton to his heir. In such primaries, Barkat will beat everyone by a huge margin.”

Asked what would happen if Netanyahu competes in such primaries and wins, the MK said: “Netanyahu will not compete in another round of Likud primaries if he fails to form a government.”

Another senior Likud figure told Zman Yisrael on Thursday that Levin (Likud), Zeev Elkin (National Unity), and Yitzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism) have recently met to discuss the initiative and the different potential scenarios. All three lawmakers denied holding such a meeting.



Trump Says it Might Be Better to Let Ukraine and Russia 'Fight for a While'

05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
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Trump Says it Might Be Better to Let Ukraine and Russia 'Fight for a While'

05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace.

In an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump likened the war in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in early 2022 — to a fight between two young children who hated each other.

“Sometimes you’re better off letting them a fight for a while and then pulling them apart," Trump said. He added that he had relayed that analogy to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their phone conversation on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

Asked about Trump's comments as the two leaders sat next to each other, Merz stressed that both he and Trump agreed “on this war and how terrible this war is going on,” pointing to the US president as the “key person in the world” who would be able to stop the bloodshed.

But Merz also emphasized that Germany “was on the side of Ukraine” and that Kyiv was only attacking military targets, not Russian civilians.

“We are trying to get them stronger,” Merz said of Ukraine.

Thursday's meeting marked the first time that the two leaders sat down in person. After exchanging pleasantries — Merz gave Trump a gold-framed birth certificate of the US president's grandfather Friedrich Trump, who immigrated from Germany — the two leaders were to discuss issues such as Ukraine, trade and NATO spending.

Trump and Merz have spoken several times by phone, either bilaterally or with other European leaders, since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a “decent” relationship, with Merz wanting to avoid the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in the Republican president's first term.

The 69-year-old Merz — who came to office with an extensive business background — is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics.

A White House official said topics that Trump is likely to raise with Merz include Germany’s defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official called “democratic backsliding," saying the administration's view is that shared values such as freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and the country should reverse course. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the discussions.

But Merz told reporters Thursday morning that if Trump wanted to talk German domestic politics, he was ready to do that but he also stressed Germany holds back when it comes to American domestic politics.