Orbach announces he is no longer in coalition, but won’t vote to dissolve Knesset

Yamina MK Nir Orbach announces that he told Prime Minister Naftli Bennett that he is no longer part of the coalition, putting members of Bennett’s government on the ropes and in the Knesset minority.

“I told the PM this morning that given the current situation, I am not part of the coalition,” he says in a message sent by his office.

However, Orbach says he will not vote to dissolve the Knesset in the coming week, saying he doesn’t think another round of elections will add to political stability. Rather, he says he will work for a government with “a national spirit” — implying, but not specifying, that he prefers to see a new, right-wing government take shape without a resort to elections.

“After a week of meetings with the PM and others, I’ve come to the conclusion that the coalition cannot continue to operate the way it is now,” he says.

He claims the coalition has failed to live up to its promises, blaming left-leaning and Arab Knesset members, namely Ra’am MK Mazen Ghanaim and Meretz’s Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi.

But since further rounds of elections “do not produce the necessary stability for governing the country,” he goes on, “I will not vote in the coming week to dissolve the Knesset. I will work with all my might for a stable government with a national spirit.”

“Extremist and anti-Zionist actors like MKs Ghanaim and Zoabi have taken the coalition in problematic directions. They have held it hostage the whole time,” he says.