Following the fierce critique that the head of the UTJ party MK Moshe Gafni received from within his own party after it was announced that he would meet with head of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid, Gafni canceled the meeting. It was announced two days ago that Gafni would officially meet with Lapid after it became clear that Netanyahu would not be able to form a coalition, and that Lapid would be the next person to get the mandate to do so. Yaakov Litzman was outspoken in his opposition of the possibility of such a coalition and said: “Gafni is from Degel HaTorah and I represent Agudas Yisroel. I am telling you there will be no such coalition with Lapid. Try me. To this day I have never lied.” Litzman continued: “Gafni is the head of our joint party and it is his prerogative to meet with whomever he chooses. But this does not mandate me or my faction to sit in a coalition with Lapid. For us, our council of sages decides. We won’t sit in a coalition with Lapid or Lieberman in any fashion. Gafni also knows this, and he also said that we would only join Netanyahu, and that includes joining him in the opposition. We won’t forget what Lapid has done to us, and we won’t sit in a coalition with people who want to throw us on the trash heap.” Gafni defended himself by saying “I speak to everyone, and I am speaking to Lapid because I was sent to the Knesset to do a job and not to a Mussar house. I even talk to Ahmed Tibi. I don’t accept directives from anyone else in my party. I speak to everyone and this does not contradict the fact that we will join the right-wing and Netanyahu.” According to sources from Gafni’s office, the meeting between Gafni and Lapid that was set for Monday is being postponed due to logistical issues. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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