Gafni says Netanyahu wanted to set up government with Arab party support

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni says Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu had sought to form a coalition with the outside support of the Islamist Ra’am party after the last election.

Netanyahu was widely reported to have held intensive negotiations with Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas, though he continues to deny that it was about forming a government.

“I believe that Netanyahu wanted support from the outside, not a coalition,” Gafni told the Walla news site.

Gafni says Netanyahu wanted to use Ra’am as a security net, but far-right Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich “said no.”

Gafni says he thinks Smotrich made a mistake, and, in the end, they got “a very bad” government that included the left parties and Ra’am inside the coalition.

Gafni indicated that he would support such a move in the future noting that “parliamentary work includes cooperation with the Arab parties.”