Netanyahu rejects challenge against legality of first opponent Benjamin Netanyahu News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal challenge to the last rival has been rejected in a bid to frustrate an offer by a right-wing rival to lead a new government, as opponents rush to punish the pact that would dismantle it.

Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s former defense minister, announced on Sunday that he would join a proposed pact with opposition centrist leader Yair Lapid, according to a rotation agreement for the first time as prime minister.

They have until midnight on Wednesday (21:00 GMT) to submit a final treaty to Rivlin, who has given Lapidi the task of forming a new government after Netanyahu held tight elections on March 23rd.

In an attempt to pass the deadline, Lapid, Bennett and other party leaders were called to reach coalition agreements, sources who reported the talks said.

In a letter to legal advisers to the presidency and parliament, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud said Lapidi was not allowed to give Bennett a prime minister.

But President Reuven Rivlin’s office responded that Likud’s claim had no legal merit, as Lapid would be sworn in as “the deputy prime minister” to become prime minister as part of the rotation.

Likud’s argument allowed Lapid to announce to the president that he should provide all the details of the new government and not just reach a coalition agreement.

Lapid-Bennett’s power participation may include other right-wing politicians as well as liberal and center-left parties. Israeli media have speculated that the party that gets the votes of the Israeli Palestinian minority may also place parliamentary protection in parliament.

This has prompted Netanyahu to accuse Bennett of not killing Israel, as he confronts internal conflicts that protest against Palestinians ’attempts to expel Israelis from their homes and access the holy sites of Jerusalem’s Old Quarter, a peace process with the Palestinians. and Iran.

The country is divided

Netanyahu, 71, is the main political figure of his generation. He was first elected prime minister in 1996 and returned to power in 2009, where he held the post for more than a decade. He also faces corruption charges for bribery, fraud and breach of trust on charges he denies.

A digital image of Bennett on social media spread on a Palestinian keffiyeh sparked comparisons with attempts to discredit former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 by an anti-nationalist anti-peace activist.

An Israeli security source said Bennett received parliamentary bodyguards on the recommendation of the Shin Bet home intelligence agency because of the “atmosphere of excitement” against him.

Lapid and Bennett have said they want to bring together Israelis from all over the political divide and end the hateful political discourse.

“A divided and violent country will not be able to deal with Iran or the economy. A leadership that pushes us against each other damages our ability to face the challenges we face,” Lapid said.