08 Aug 2020; MEMO: Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to form a new right-wing party.
The newspaper reported that: “The aim is to participate in the coming elections.” The newspaper quoted sources in the ruling Likud Party as stating: “The move aims to allow another right-wing party separate from Likud to increase the votes of the right-wing bloc in the upcoming elections to reach 61 members, without the need for parties from outside it.”
“Netanyahu unofficially seeks to form a new right-wing party, led by one of his former aides, Haim Bibas, who is the mayor of Modi’in and head of its local authority,” added the newspaper.
It asserted: “Netanyahu does not trust the entire parties of the right-wing bloc, and he cannot be sure that he will have a 61-member bloc in the Knesset, so he works behind the scenes to establish a right-wing party that gets several seats, and guarantees him a majority in the Knesset.”
The newspaper also clarified: “Netanyahu has conducted three Knesset election rounds in which the majority is not settled in such a way that he can choose his ministers completely, and that Netanyahu believes that this step will allow the new party to absorb the disappointed voters following the failures of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
