In the wake of the resignation of Yamina MK Idit Silman from the coalition last week, leaving it without a majority, the Bennett-Lapid-Abbas government is working with lawyers to formulate agreements with the Arab Joint List, Channel 13 News reported on Sunday. The Joint List will not join the coalition but will support the coalition in the Knesset plenum, lending its votes to pass regulations and approve the next state budget. “The coalition with the Joint List? Apparently, Bennett lost it,” Likud MK Miki Zohar responded to the report. Yisrael Hayom reported on Sunday morning that the coalition is placing heavy pressure on the Joint List, in the hope that its members avoid voting in favor of dissolving the Knesset, with the claim that dissolving the current coalition will lead to the establishment of a government headed by opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu and including Religious Zionist chairman Betzalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir. According to the report, coalition members offered far-reaching proposals to the Joint List, including budgets for the Arab sector and support for civil laws that will benefit the Arab public. Kan News reported on Motzei Shabbos that Likud members believe that there is little chance of another MK defecting from the coalition before the Knesset’s summer session begins due to the agreement forged by Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked with Yamina MKs Nir Orbach and Abir Kara to work together as a united group. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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