Hadash backs out of backing Lapid due to his ‘willingness’ for rotation government with Bennett

Hadash, the largest faction in the mostly Arab Joint List alliance, announces that its three MKs will not recommend anyone for prime minister.

Hadash party chief Ayman Odeh — who chairs the Joint List — had originally announced after meeting with Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid that the Joint List would back Lapid should he receive 55 recommendations elsewhere.

“The day after the decision, it became clear that Lapid had expressed willingness to form a rotation government with Yamina head Naftali Bennett, with the ultranationalist extremist settler right, even as his supposed partners in the ‘anti-Netanyahu bloc’ support such an idea,” Hadash says in a statement.

Hadash emphasizes that “our opposition to Netanyahu is our opposition to his political method.”

“The goal is a government that pushes for a solution to the Palestinian issue, an end to the occupation, a cessation of all forms of racial discrimination, and pursues socioeconomic policies that support the poor, vulnerable and middle classes,” Hadash says.

Another Joint List faction, the conservative nationalist Balad party, has already announced that it will also recommend no one for prime minister.

The remaining two MKs in the Joint List, members of Ahmad Tibi’s Ta’al party, have yet to announce a stance either way but Channel 12 news has reported they are also planning not to recommend anyone.