Ra’am chief: Still no decision whether to back Netanyahu-led gov’t or his rivals

Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas says his Islamist party has not yet decided whether to back a government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu or a coalition headed by the premier’s political rivals.

“Ultimately, any government that is formed will need both Ra’am and Yamina,” Abbas tells Kan public radio’s Arabic-language station.

The comments came a day after Abbas, who has emerged as a potential kingmaker after the March 23 elections, met with Yamina chief Naftali Bennett, in their first-ever political contact. The sit-down came just days before Netanyahu’s mandate to form a government expires.

Both parties are the only ones that in last month’s elections refused to back either Netanyahu’s right wing-religious bloc or the rival “change bloc” that seeks to oust him.