A7News: Lapid: When we win, we'll form unity government with Likud

Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday



Sunday, Feb. 24 '19, י"ט באדר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. LAPID: WHEN WE WIN, WE'LL FORM UNITY GOVERNMENT WITH LIKUD
2. ISRAELI FM TRIES TO DEFUSE CRISIS WITH POLAND - WITHOUT APOLOGY
3. 'WHERE ARE CONDEMNATIONS OF ARAB NATIONALIST PARTY?'
4. NETANYAHU WORKING TO UNDERMINE BENNETT, SHAKED
5. ISRAELI FILMMAKER WINS OSCAR
6. POLL: RIGHT-WING - RELIGIOUS BLOC 62, LEFT-WING - ARAB BLOC 58
7. GUNMAN BREAKS INTO COCKPIT IN HIJACK ATTEMPT
8. 'I NEED YOU IN ORDER TO WIN'


1. LAPID: WHEN WE WIN, WE'LL FORM UNITY GOVERNMENT WITH LIKUD
by David Rosenberg

The newly-formed Blue and White party will reach out to the Likud to form a unity government if the new left-wing bloc wins the April 9th elections, Yair Lapid said, adding that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would be unlikely to remain chief of the Likud if he lost the upcoming vote.

Speaking with Kan Monday morning, Lapid, the chairman of the Yesh Atid faction and member of the Blue and White union with the Israel Resilience Party, said the Blue and White party would not form a government which relied on the support of Arab factions, but would instead try to create a unity government including the Likud party.

Lapid predicted that if, as current polls suggest, Blue and White defeats the Likud, Prime Minister Netanyahu would step down as chairman of the Likud.

That, the former Finance Minister added, would pave the way for a grand coalition led by Blue and White and including the Likud.

"We won't form a government with the Arab parties," said Lapid, "we'll turn to the Likud. It will be the post-Netanyahu Likud."

"Overall, the Likud is an important national party with important people, and its Knesset slate isn't bad, and we would definitely love to have it [in our coalition]."

Lapid also rejected claims that Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid would rely on Arab factions to form a "blocking majority" of 61 MKs to prevent Netanyahu from forming an alternative government.

"There is no such thing as a blocking majority. That's something Bibi made up so he could say 'they're going to make a blocking majority with the Arabs.'"

The Blue and White alliance, which is currently leading the Likud with 33 to 36 seats in recent polls to the Likud's 26 to 32, was formed last Thursday via the merger of Yesh Atid and the Israel Resilience Party.

If the party succeeds in forming the next government, Gantz and Lapid will rotate as Prime Minister, similar to the arrangement used by the Likud-Labor unity governments of the 1980s.


2. ISRAELI FM TRIES TO DEFUSE CRISIS WITH POLAND - WITHOUT APOLOGY
by David Rosenberg

Israel's foreign minister attempted to defuse an ongoing diplomatic crisis with Poland, but refused Poland's demands for an apology over remarks the foreign minister made last week regarding anti-Semitism in Poland.

Speaking with Israel's Kan, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz emphasized the "close cooperation" between Israel and Poland, and Warsaw's efforts to stabilize the Middle East, referencing the recent Warsaw conference.

"The foreign policy of the Polish government entails close cooperation with Israel," Katz said, noting Poland's "significant contribution to the safety and stability" in the Middle East.

Katz refused to apologize for his comments last Sunday, when Katz defended Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu publicly flouted Poland's controversial Holocaust censorship law, which bans discussion of collaboration by Poles with the Nazis occupation during World War II.

"Poles collaborated with the Nazis," Netanyahu said in Warsaw. "See, I'm saying it. It is a fact. And I don't know a single person who was ever sued because of it."

Following criticism by the Polish government, and the downgrading of a Polish delegation to a summit in Jerusalem, Katz defended Netanyahu while quoting Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.

"The memory of the Holocaust is something we cannot compromise about, it is something clear and we won't forget or forgive. Poles collaborated with the Nazis, and as Yitzhak Shamir, whose father was murdered by Poles, said, 'they suckle anti-Semitism with their mother's milk'."

Katz's comments quickly drew condemnation from Poland, which labelled the comments "racist".


3. 'WHERE ARE CONDEMNATIONS OF ARAB NATIONALIST PARTY?'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) pushed back Monday morning against the wave of criticism aimed at the Likud and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, over his backing for an alliance bringing the Otzma Yehudit faction onto the Jewish Home-National Union ticket for this year's election.

"Over the past few days I've heard discussions on the union of three Religious Zionist parties, including Otzma Yehudit. I think that it is an important discussion, but I do not understand why it is focused on Michael Ben-Ari," referring to the former National Union MK and current Knesset candidate from Otzma.

"If we want to see a Knesset without any radical representatives, we need to start with Balad, whose [former] MK is sitting in prison for aiding terrorists – and then there's Hanin Zoabi, whom we don't even need to discuss," said Edelstein, referring to the Arab nationalist party, Balad.

In 2016, Balad MK Basel Ghattas was arrested after he was caught smuggling cell phones to jailed Hamas terrorists, and serving as a go-between for jailed terrorists and their contacts on the outside.

"I've always said that, before anything else, we need to deal with our own radicals, which is why I, when it was necessary, said how I felt about Otzma Yehudit – and my views were not particularly positive. But when someone uses that to make a political discussion out of it, that's something else. We need to decide whether the Knesset is open to everyone who has a voter base which sends him to the Knesset, or if we need to put boundaries. If and when we decide to put up boundaries, I'll be ready to continue the discussion about the radical right, but right now the situation is that Balad, which doesn't recognize the State of Israel, is part of the Knesset."


4. NETANYAHU WORKING TO UNDERMINE BENNETT, SHAKED
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's support for a united ticket spanning the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit factions was intended to block a post-election alliance between the Jewish Home and the New Right, sources within the Likud said Monday morning.

According to a report by Yediot Ahronot, unnamed senior officials within the Likud have claimed that while the Prime Minister is primarily occupied with overcoming the lead in the polls enjoyed by the newly-formed Blue and White party of Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, Netanyahu's second concern in the election is the possibility that a powerful alliance of factions to his right could limit his options in the next government.

While former Jewish Home chief Naftali Bennett abruptly left the party to form the New Right, Bennett has called for an alliance with his former party following the April 9th elections to form a large bloc to the right of the Likud.

The New Right, Jewish Home-National Union alliance would then have broad bargaining powers during coalition talks with the Likud, and would be better positioned to block the inclusion of left-wing or center-left factions in the government.

The Likud officials cited by the Yediot report Monday morning claim that Netanyahu has been working actively to neutralize the New Right, and to prevent it from forming an alliance with the Jewish Home after the elections.

Some of the officials even claimed that the Prime Minister's support for a joint ticket of the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit was intended to form a smaller alternative alliance on the right, thus reducing the chances of a post-election union between the Jewish Home and the New Right.


5. ISRAELI FILMMAKER WINS OSCAR
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv on Sunday night won the Oscar for best live action short film for his film "Skin".

The film is about a gang war in a small town that breaks out after a black man smiles at a white child at a supermarket.

Nattiv, who grew up in Israel and now lives in Los Angeles, wrote "Skin" with Sharon Maymon, who is also from Israel. He co-produced the film with his wife, actress Jaime Ray Newman, who received the award alongside him.

In his speech, Nattiv gave a shout out to Israel and said: "Good night Israel". He also said, "My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. The bigotry that they experienced in the Holocaust, we see that everywhere today, in America, in Europe. This film is about...teaching your kids a better way."


6. POLL: RIGHT-WING - RELIGIOUS BLOC 62, LEFT-WING - ARAB BLOC 58
by David Rosenberg

The new Blue and White alliance of Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience party and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid faction would become the largest party in the Knesset if new elections were held today, a new poll shows – but the right-wing – religious bloc would retain a narrow majority.

According to the poll, conducted by Maagar Mohot and published by i24NEWS and Israel Hayom Sunday evening, if new elections were held today, the Blue and White party of Gantz and Lapid would win 36 mandates.

The Likud, by contrast, would gain a single mandate over its 2015 performance, winning a total of 31 seats.

But the right-wing and haredi parties would retain the rightist majority in the Knesset, though by a razor-thin margin, with 62 seats to 58 for the left-wing – Arab bloc.

The New Right, led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, would become the third largest party with nine seats, following by Labor with eight. Tied with Labor for fourth place is the Jewish Home-National Union-Otzma Yehudit alliance with eight seats.

Both of the haredi factions, United Torah Judaism and Shas, would win seven seats each, as would the far-left Meretz party.

Yisrael Beytenu, Kulanu, Gesher, Zehut and the Balad-United Arab List alliance would all fail to cross the threshold. Yisrael Beytenu and Kulanu would win three seats-worth of votes, while Gesher, Balad, and Zehut would receive two seats-worth. Four seats are needed to cross the electoral threshold.


7. GUNMAN BREAKS INTO COCKPIT IN HIJACK ATTEMPT
by David Rosenberg

A passenger plane making its way to Dubai was forced down for an emergency landing Sunday, after a gunman tried to hijack the flight.

The incident occurred on Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG147 from Dhaka to Dubai was carrying 142 passengers Sunday, when a passenger carrying a pistol stormed the plane's cockpit in an attempt to hijack the flight.

The Boeing 737 aircraft landed at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where local authorities managed to successfully evacuate the plane. Army commandos stormed the plane, and captured the gunman.

AFP reported, however, that the gunman had refused to surrender, and was shot before being taken into custody.

The gunman later succumbed to his wounds.

"We tried to arrest him or get him to surrender but he refused and then we shot him," Major General Motiur Rahman told reporters.

"He is a Bangladeshi. We found a pistol from him and nothing else."

Bangladeshi authorities later identified the gunman as a 25-year-old Bangladeshi man who may have been suffering from a mental illness.

"From the talks and dialogue we have with him, it seems he is psychologically deranged," Nayeem Hasan, chief of Bangladesh's aviation authority, said.

A Bangladeshi lawmaker, MP Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal, who was on board the flight, reported that the gunman had fired a shot during the incident.


8. 'I NEED YOU IN ORDER TO WIN'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday published a post on Facebook in which he responded to the recent polls and to the Attorney General's decision in the cases against him, which is expected to be published in the coming days.

"The left wants to defeat us in the elections in order to establish a Lapid-Gantz government with the support of a bloc of Arab parties," wrote Netanyahu.

"In order to do so, they are pressuring the Attorney General to file an indictment against me at all costs and before the elections. They are pressing for an indictment to be filed for bribery because of two and a half articles on the Internet," the Prime Minister continued.

"They even work to deprive me of the basic right to finance my legal defense, against an army of investigators and lawyers who operate against me 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at a cost of half a billion shekels at the expense of taxpayers."

"So far, the left's pressure appears to be succeeding. But it all depends on you. I need you to win."

"I need you to prevent the establishment of Lapid-Gantz's left-wing government that will endanger the land of Israel and stop all our great achievements in all areas. I need you, because only a big Likud will prevent a leftist government," concluded Netanyahu.