Netanyahu opponents grapple to form cabinet before deadline

JERUSALEM AFP June1, 2021 -  Israeli politicians worked against the clock Tuesday to overcome final hurdles to building a coalition that would end the record rule of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.   

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, a secular centrist, and religious nationalist Naftali Bennett were locked in talks late into the night Monday on the terms of a “change alliance” to unseat the premier ahead of a Wednesday midnight deadline.   

 “The coalition negotiation team sat all night and made progress toward creating a unity government,” a Bennett spokesman said in a statement.   

He said Bennett, who heads the Yamina party, would meet Lapid --leader of the Yesh Atid party-- again in the afternoon.   

 Efforts to form a new government without Netanyahu have picked up speed after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on May 21 halted 11 days of hostilities with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.   

If Lapid fails to muster a majority, Israelis will return, yet again, to the polls.