Four Netanyahu antagonists could join forces against him

Four political rivals populate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s worst nightmares. They are Yisrael Beitenu party leader Avigdor Liberman, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, New Hope party leader Gideon Saar and Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett. Bennett, the weak link in this chain, holds the keys to Netanyahu’s fate on the day after the March 23 elections, once work begins on forming a new government.

Netanyahu fears a scenario in which this foursome reaches agreement in principle to cooperate the day after in order to withhold from him the majority he needs to form a government. Of the four, Bennett is the only one who has been noncommittal as to whether he would join a Netanyahu-led government after the elections.

All four despise Netanyahu and would do almost anything to remove him from power and his family from the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem. Three of the four have often declared that they would not join a government with him at the helm under any circumstances or terms. Liberman and Lapid have already made good on their pledge after each of the three consecutive elections held in 2019 and 2020. As for Saar, he quit Netanyahu’s Likud party last year to run on an “anyone but Netanyahu” ticket. He has since declared repeatedly that anyone seeking Netanyahu’s reelection need not bother voting for his New Hope party.

Bennett is the only one maintaining ambiguity about his day-after plans. He declares at every opportunity that his aim is to “replace Netanyahu,” but deflects all questions about whether he would join a Netanyahu-led government with the mantra that he does not rule out anyone. Bennett does not want to jeopardize his support from voters who still want Netanyahu to remain in power; at the same time, Bennett does not want to lose the support of those who are sick of the prime minister. Bennett is sitting on the fence, hedging his bets.