Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked held contacts with the Likud on the possibility of joining the party. The contacts were held on the very day on which coalition chairwoman Idit Silman announced she would be leaving the coalition, Channel 12 News reported on Friday.
According to the report, associates of opposition leader and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu made clear to Shaked that she had two hours to join the Likud in exchange for any position she would like, otherwise they intended to close a deal with another MK.
Shaked, for her part, refused the ultimatum and in the meantime worked to create a united front with MK Nir Orbach and later also with MK Abir Kara. In the evening, Shaked updated the Likud on the new situation in which, from now on, the three will operate as one group.
The Likud opposed the idea of guaranteeing spots on its Knesset slate for four MKs, including Silman, and tried to persuade Shaked to join without being guaranteed a spot, claiming she could succeed on her own. A few hours later, when the Likud was ready to give all four a guaranteed spot, it was too late as Shaked, Orbach and Kara had decided to give another chance to the possibility of stabilizing the government.
Channel 12 News noted that the reason that the Likud delayed its proposal to Shaked is that there is great opposition within the party to her being guaranteed a spot on the Likud slate. Some Likud Knesset members believe that they will be able to bring in Orbach without threatening the leadership of the party who plans to succeed Netanyahu in due course, and is not really interested in seeking Shaked joining the race.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)