Lapid: ‘In no situation’ will Yesh Atid join new Netanyahu government

Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid says that there is no chance his Yesh Atid party will join Israel’s next government, which is expected to be formed by a bloc of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties led by Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There is no scenario and no situation under which we will enter the new government,” says Lapid.

While committing his party to the opposition, Lapid says that his centrist party will lend its support to measures by the incoming government promotes that are “good for the citizens of Israel.”

“We will be an opposition to the government, but we will never be an opposition to the state,” Lapid says.

Yesh Atid won 24 seats in last week’s election, second to Likud’s 32. However, Likud and its partners earned a combined 64 seats, enough for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.