Meretz says won’t join Bennett-led government if it’s dominated by right

The leader of the left-wing Meretz party, Nitzan Horowitz, rules out joining a right-wing government led by Yamina leader Naftali Bennett.

In an interview with Channel 12, Horowitz says Bennett will have to drop his demand that a government formed by parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc be politically right-wing.

“We will not form a government in which the right rules. We want partnership, not a takeover,” says Horowitz.

Such a government, if formed, would be composed of the right-wing Yamina, New Hope, Yisrael Beytenu parties (together accounting for 20 seats), the centrist Yesh Atid and Blue and White (25 seats), the center-left Labor (7), and left-wing Meretz (6), and would require the backing of Arab lawmakers from the outside to clinch a majority. Bennett, in a statement earlier today, says any government formed must be right-wing.