Yesh Atid MK won’t rule out coalition with Netanyahu even if he is indicted

Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah on Saturday refused to rule out his party joining a future coalition with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, even if the prime minister is indicted for corruption, sparking a furious backlash from fellow opposition lawmakers.

“I’m not going to get into speculations,” Shelah said, when pressed for an answer at a cultural event in the central town of Ness Ziona. “I do not think it’s correct to boycott someone. The first thing you are asked about in Israeli politics is who are you boycotting.”

“The answer is: no one. We want a government headed by Yair Lapid with the main parties in Israel,” he said.

Asked again if he was suggesting that sitting with a post-indictment Netanyahu-led Likud would still be an option, Shelah again refused to give a straight answer, only asserting that “a prime minister under indictment cannot continue to serve in the position.”

The failure to rule out a hypothetical coalition earned Shelah and his party sharp denunciation by the main opposition party, the Zionist Union.

“If anyone had any doubt, [Yesh Atid chairman] Yair Lapid and his colleagues will not hesitate to sit with Netanyahu, even if indictments are filed against him,” a Zionist union statement said.

“They are not partners to anything. Those who pretend to lead the fight against corruption cannot afford double standards on the subject. We pledge to replace the corrupt, not to embrace them with open arms,” it said.

Speaking at a Saturday event for party activists in Beer Sheba, Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir called for early elections to be held so that her faction could prove that “citizens detest corruption and know that this government is abandoning them for personal and political interests.”

“It is clear to everyone that Netanyahu’s corrupt government has stopped worrying about Israeli citizens,” she added.

The squabble came as the Zionist Union, led by Avi Gabbay, has plummeted in the polls to the apparent benefit of  Yesh Atid.

Earlier this week, a Channel 10 survey found that Yesh Atid would win 24 seats (11) if fresh elections were held, while the Zionist Union would plunge to 12 seats (24).

However, both opposition parties trailed Netanyahu’s Likud, which would receive 29 seats, one less than it currently has in the Knesset.

Last month, police recommended Netanyahu be indicted in a pair of corruption investigations, known as Cases 1000 and 2000.

He is also a suspect in the Case 4000 investigation that involves suspicions that Bezeq’s controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch ordered the Walla news site, which he owns, to grant positive coverage to the Netanyahus in exchange for the prime minister’s advancement of regulations benefiting him financially.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, amounting to some NIS 1 million ($282,000) worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian resort owner James Packer, in return for certain benefits.

Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid-pro-quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister weaken a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

Earlier this week, a former Netanyahu family top media adviser, Nir Hefetz, became the third former close aide to the prime minister to agree to cooperate with police.

He has reportedly promised to provide police with incriminating text messages and recordings of Netanyahu and his wife in several criminal cases, including Case 4000 and Case 1000.