New Hope’s No. 2 vows not to form government propped up by Joint List

MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, No. 2 in Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party, says her party won’t form a government propped up by the predominantly Arab Joint List, further narrowing the already slim prospects for an anti-Netanyahu coalition.

She tells Channel 12 news that New Hope is aiming for a “center-right government made up of Zionist parties,” without specifying which parties such a coalition would include.

Shasha-Biton says her party is already facing “intense” pressure to enter a government with the ruling Likud, a move it has repeatedly ruled out on the campaign trail.

“All the associates and all of Netanyahu’s inner circle have been making offers in recent days,” she says. “They offered me the education portfolio and in general have promised the world to all party members, but that won’t happen so they can save the effort of the phone calls. We are a very united group. We came to make a change and we are committed to our voters.”

She says the party hasn’t yet decided who to recommend as prime minister, though it appears the obvious choice is Yair Lapid, the head of the biggest party (Yesh Atid) in the anti-Netanyahu bloc.

“The most simple option is that Netanyahu, after failing to get 61 seats in four elections, will step aside and let others do the job.”