Israeli far-right leader Bennett joins anti-Netanyahu coalition

anti-Netanyahu coalition

Benjamin Netanyahu's long-time leadership of Israel could be about to end in the last hour right-wing leader Naftali Bennett said he's joining a coalition with the main centrist leader yad lapid after four inconclusive elections in two years the final deadline is coming up on Wednesday to make the coalition deal a reality well our diplomatic editor James Bayes is life from west Jerusalem James there's been a lot of speculation swirling around these talks that have been going on just bring us up to date with what's been going on well dramatic developments in Israeli politics the long reign of Benjamin Netanyahu may now be very close to an end and it's certainly looking that way after Naftali Bennett a right-wing the politician said he was going to join a coalition that has been formed by the center-left politician yeah lapid the two men have come to a deal and the deal uh many thought of this coalition depended on Mr. Bennett being the kingmaker but it looks like the the deal actually also involves him becoming initially at least the king because under the deal Mr. Bennett will be the first prime minister and then it will rotate to Mr. Lapid at a later stage it's almost a done deal but not yet remember there are more than two parties involved in this coalition and all of them I think all of the deals have to be absolutely confirmed with all the coalition members and then the next stage is that Mr. Lapid who was asked to form a coalition goes back to Israel's president to say that he's managed to form a government

 we've heard as I just said from Mr Bennett uh in the last hour uh much of the criticism of him has been that he is joining this very broad coalition that involves left-wing parties he made the point though addressing the Israeli people that this new government if he was able to form it was going to be even more right-wing then the current one we've also heard in the last few minutes from benjamin Netanyahu the current prime minister the long-serving prime minister and he said that um Mr. Bennett had uh not live up to his election promises uh by doing a deal with left-wing parties so a great deal of controversy a lot of accusations by all the key players but particularly from prime minister Netanyahu who may well be losing his grip on power benjamin Netanyahu placed himself right at the center of the recent Israeli action that we saw against Palestinians when members of Hamas were firing rockets into Israel and the Israeli military was firing missiles into Gaza, the question is of course about the the ceasefire that we're only days into at the moment is there any indication that should benjamin Netanyahu step down what the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians are likely to be well if Mr. Netanyahu is no longer prime minister, it's now looking pretty certain that it'll be Mr. Bennett who is the first prime minister of this new change coalition government let me tell you about Naftali Bennett and his policies towards the Palestinians in his own personal views he is opposed to a two-state solution he is opposed to a Palestinian state he is opposed to any restriction on settlements that puts him completely against the agreed international uh position the position  of u.n security council resolutions the position of the a quartet of key players on the middle east but and there's a very big but here as I said to you before his coalition if he does finally get to form it and it's looking likely now will include parties from abroad cross-section of Israeli politics including left-wing parties and so I don't think they're going to be able to do anything concerning the Palestinian issue because they disagree on it and so I think what is most likely is that this will be a new government that will deal with all the other issues facing Israel but not do anything significant on the Palestinian issue and that in some ways might rather match the Biden administration's approach yes they want to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians they talking about rebuilding Gaza but they're not planning to launch any face-to-face negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in the past few years James is certainly seemed to those of us looking on from outside benjamin, Netanyahu has been fighting increasingly hard to keep his grip on power this is more than just politics for benjamin Netanyahu though isn't it his future should he be forced out for us to step down from office could be radically different talk us through what the possible implications are for him well for benjamin Netanyahu and for Israel this is if he is outgoing to be the end of an  era because he has been the longest-serving prime minister of this country this time around he's been in power for 13 years so it marks a big moment for the country for the prime minister himself after that length of time in power and remember he was also prime minister in the 1990s it will be a big big the change he's not leaving politics if he does uh no longer uh end up as prime minister he will be the opposition leader and leader of lacude which is still the largest party but as you say he is also facing corruption charges and many believe that having the office of the prime minister being the incumbent was beneficial in terms of fighting that corruption charges so I think if it is what seems to be happening and we don't have it absolutely we don't haven't got to the stage of the president um meeting and saying that the new government can be formed but if it is if he is losing power then it's losing power politically but potentially also um affecting him legally too James thanks very much indeed that's James be our diplomatic editor talking to us from west Jerusalem web page URL your run's plagiarism search that.