It seems like it was easier for the Likud to win enough votes for thirty (30) Knesset seats than it has been for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition negotiating team to find another thirty-plus more to form a viable government. It’s not like there aren’t any party leaders who want to join him, it’s just that they all want the same few prestigious positions and aren’t willing to compromise.
Likud negotiating team members have criticized the Bayit Yehudi, Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu teams for asking for too much. There are also too many Likud MKs who expect to be ministers in the next government, which could be a problem if the next cabinet is limited to only 18.
And even United Torah Judaism and Shas, whose teams have been making the most progress, have slowed down the entire process by refusing to hold negotiations during the intermediate days of the Passover holiday. (Jerusalem Post)
The main reason we haven’t been hearing too much about it of late is that everyone is busy celebrating Passover and there isn’t much new to report. And the “elephant in the room” is the fear that a deadlock would put more pressure on Netanyahu to negotiate some sort of “national unity government” which would give the Herzog-Livni Leftists a lot of power which the public does not want in any way.
In the meantime, it’s Passover and Israelis of all stripes are enjoying what they can.