As expected, President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday afternoon tasked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with trying to assemble Israel's next governing coalition, saying he has a "slightly higher chance" of succeeding than Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid.
Rivlin spent Monday in consultations with party leaders about whom he should task with forming the next government. Netanyahu received the largest number of recommendations, with 52. The candidate with the next largest number of recommendations was Lapid.
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"I get the impression, based on consultations with representatives from the parties, that neither candidate has a good chance of being able to form a government," Rivlin said at his press conference. "But I have no choice, the law requires me to select a candidate. According to the court and the law, a prime minister under indictment can continue to serve," the president noted, referring to Netanyahu.
"This was not an easy decision on a moral and ethical basis, in my mind. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, the State of Israel is not to be taken for granted. And I fear for my country. But I am doing what is required of me as president of the State of Israel, according to the law and to the ruling of the court, and realizing the will of the sovereign – the Israeli people," he said.
Netanyahu will now have 28 days to try cobbling together a coalition that can win majority support in the Knesset.
A statement from the Office of the President explained that in a situation in which an extension is needed, the president has the authority to grant him an additional 14 days.
Lapid took to Twitter immediately after Rivlin's announcement, saying: "The president fulfilled his duty and didn't have a choice, but mandating Netanyahu is a disgraceful mark of shame that stains Israel and makes a mockery of our status as a law-abiding country."
The last MKs to meet with Rivlin on Monday were representatives of MK Mansour Abbas' Ra'am party, who eventually decided to recommend no one.
"We want to see a government formed," Abbas said, adding that "We will take a positive approach with any candidate picked to form a government. The president can see Ra'am as more leverage on the way to the next government."
"Ra'am is not recommending anyone, but Ra'am is willing to positively work with anyone tasked with forming the next government," Abbas stressed.
Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party also decided to refrain from recommending any one candidate.
Mk Yifat Shasha-Biton said that New Hope had "made an effort" to get Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and Lapid to "reach an understanding."
According to Shasha-Biton, "Each of them recommended himself and we cannot recommend either. We are in a complicated reality, after three [previous] elections." She added that New Hope wanted Rivlin to invite Bennett and Lapid to a meeting with the aim of encouraging a political partnership between the two.
However, Rivlin made it clear he would not intervene in the political process.
"What you want me to do, I see as something with which a president must not interfere," he said.
MK Zeev Elkin told him, "There is a chance. I'll tell both the candidates, Bennett and Lapid, that our recommendation is in their hands, for the sake of a government for change."
Shasha-Biton appealed to Bennett and Lapid, saying "What we need now is a uniting government for change. Please do it."
Elkin said, "We worked to lead to a change in Israel. It's possible. It's within reach. Neither Lapid nor Bennett can form a government on their own. Any arrangement they reach will already have secured our recommendation."
Chairman of the Joint Arab List MK Ayman Odeh said in the meeting between representatives of his party and Rivlin that this time, the party would not serve as the tie-breaker.
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"We oppose Netanyahu's path. We are not in Sa'ar and [Avigdor] Lieberman's 'bloc for change.' We are against Netanyahu because of his political and civil policies. We looked for a way to exert influence. We met with Lapid, whose statements about wanting the Joint Arab List in the coalition we appreciate. We told him that if he could get 55 recommendations, we would be honored to look into it. A day later, he said he couldn't do it alone, only with Bennett. If Yair Lapid has a chance of forming a government without the Right, we'll consider joining. Since then, he's changed direction. We aren't part of the deal between Sa'ar, Bennett, and Lapid," Odeh said.
However, MK Ahmad Tibi, who heads the Ta'al party, which holds two of the Joint Arab List's six mandates, said Monday that if Sa'ar would recommend Lapid to form the government, he would do the same. If both Sa'ar and Tibi had recommended Lapid, the Yesh Atid leader would have secured 53 recommendations compared to 52 for Netanyahu.
Tibi told Rivlin that he had hoped to come into the meeting as the tiebreaker, but that Ta'al could not recommend Bennett. The party eventually recommended no one.
The Religious Zionist party recommended Netanyahu. Leader of the far-Right Otzma Yehudit, who ran on the joint ticket with MK Bezalel Smotrich, said that the Right had received votes equivalent to 65 mandates, and he believed that "the person who should be tapped is whoever got the most votes on the Right. The people of Israel don't want a fifth election. If the president gives Netanyahu the mandate, I believe a right-wing government will be formed."
Earlier Monday, Lieberman recommended Lapid. "For us, it's very simple, a promise is a promise," he told Rivlin, adding that "What we said before the election still holds. We said we would recommend the chairman of the biggest party in the bloc to replace Netanyahu, and therefore our recommendation goes to Yair Lapid."
Representatives of Bennett's Yamina party recommended him. Rivlin asked MK Ayelet Shaked and MK Matan Kahana to explain how Bennett could possibly form a government if he were given the mandate. Rivlin said they were recommending their party leader knowing full well he could not be tapped and said that it was possible that he would transfer the responsibility for the decision to the Knesset.
Labor recommended Lapid. Party representative MK Omer Bar-Lev said, "We aren't ruling out any party other than Netanyahu." Labor MK Emilie Moatti added, "We don't reject the Likud, the issue is Netanyahu in power."
Blue and White also recommended Lapid, saying "We cannot join a government under Netanyahu."
Yesh Atid recommended Lapid.
The Likud threw its support behind Netanyahu. Representatives of the Likud were the first to meet with Rivlin on Monday.
United Torah Judaism recommended Netanyahu. Party representative Uri Maklev asked Rivlin to intervene to establish a right-wing government, and the president told him that he could not intervene in the political process. Shas also recommended Netanyahu, saying they believed he was the only person who could secure 65 mandates.
As of Tuesday morning, there was still no candidate with 61 mandates.
