Netanyahu pitches for a ‘broad national government’, but under his leadership

After no breakthrough in the political standoff following the announcement of election results and his bloc being unable to conjure a majority, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he is open to the formation of a “broad national government,” but insisted that he must lead it. Netanyahu called on parties that oppose terrorism to sit with Likud and form a “broad national government”.

He also said that he will not abandon the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties in his outgoing coalition.

In his speech to Likud supporters on October 28 after voting, Netanyahu had vowed to establish “a strong, national, right-wing coalition.”

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In a move signalling a change, Netanyahu declared in a post on X that the Israeli public “does not want a government that depends on Ra’am or the Joint List — parties that support terror and reject the existence of the Jewish state.”

“From the very first day, our hand has been extended to form a broad national government,” he wrote.

“A clear majority of the Jewish public chose Likud as the largest party and chose me, as prime minister, to lead the next government,” he added.

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Likud received the most seats — 27 — in the Knesset elections last week, but the Netanyahu bloc fell short of the majority mark of 61 by 8 seats.

The remaining 67 seats in the 120-seat Knesset are split between 48 seats of Jewish-led parties, and the Arab-led parties, which won 19.

“We are aiming to form a broad government with our partners and with all parties that are willing to join, provided they do not support terrorism,” said Netanyahu.

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All four of the Zionist opposition parties, Yashar, B’Yachad, The Democrats, and Yisrael Beytenu, have ruled out sitting in a government led by Netanyahu.

“We aim to form a broad government with our partners and with any other party that wishes to join, provided they do not support terrorism. I am open to dialogue on this matter,” said Netanyahu, concluding the post.