The negotiating teams of both Yesh Atid and Habayit Hayehudi did not arrive at what could be the final round of negotiations with the Likud-Beitenu team. It turns out the two parties received notices that, contrary to what had been agreed, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett will not serve as deputy prime ministers.
According to Likud-Beitenu officials, the decision was made for reasons not directly related to the issues at hand, but, instead, to the prime minister’s wife’s refusal to allow the two coalition members to serve as her husband’s deputies.
The Yesh Atid and Habayit Hayehudi negotiating team told Ma’ariv that “something here doesn’t smell right. We are not looking to blow up the negotiations, we just want to return to what had been agreed with us.”
The position of Deputy Prime Minister is more than mere honor, as the Prime Minister is absent from the country an average of 50 days a year.
No one knows yet if this is a deal breaker.