Top officials in the Yesh Atid party concocted a plan last month to break off from the Blue and White electoral alliance and instead run with Avigdor Liberman’s Yisael Beytenu on a secular slate, party sources tell Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.
According to polls commissioned by party officials, a Yesh Atid-Yisrael Beytenu joint list would pick up 26-27 seats in the elections, more than any other party in the surveys. Liberman, sources close to Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said, was aware of the idea and did not reject it out of hand.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid (R) and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman hold a joint press conference at the Knesset on February 29, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
The plan, which was formulated days before the August 1 deadline parties had to submit their list of candidates to the Central Elections Committee, would have shaken up the campaign season and possibly changed the political map in Israel. It was Lapid himself, however, who ultimately scrapped the plan.
“I signed an agreement with [Blue and White leaders] Benny Gantz and [Moshe] Bogie Ya’alon and I can’t violate it. This will also look really bad in the eyes of the public,” the sources quote Lapid saying.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
