Coalition sources remained hopeful late on Thursday, that despite the announced resignation of Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi's, which handed the opposition a majority in parliament, the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett might survive.
The surprise move however, raised fears of a snowball effect among government officials, fearing it will prompt further resignations of coalition members who may seek to improve their chances ahead of an election campaign, should the government fall.
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, and Foriegn Minister Yair Lapid
(Photo: Shaul Golan, Reuters, Yoav Dudkevitch)
Rinawie Zoabi said she intends to leave the coalition, a move that surprised her party members including Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz who added her to his Knesset list ahead of the last elections.
While party officials said they believed Rinawie Zoabi might reconsider her move, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who called his own Yamina party members to an emergency meeting, decided to postpone it, citing technical reasons.
The coalition was already dealt a major blow when Yamina legislator and coalition whip Idit Silman defected to the opposition last month.
Since her announcement, Zoabi was being pressured by many senior members of the Arab sector in an attempt to convince her to stay in the coalition. She refused to meet any of her parliamentary associates and turned off her phone.
"Let's continue to work together from within the coalition," Meretz Minister Issawi Freij wrote in a tweet. "It is our duty to the Arab society. We have to remember that the alternative is a government run by Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich," he said.
Following the resignation of Rinawie Zoabi and Silman from the coalition, political sources said they believed elections, which would be fifth in three years, are closer than ever and could take place as early as September.
The opposition is expected to table a motion to dissolve the Knesset next Wednesday, and if Silman and Zoabi Rinawie both support it, the government will fall.
In accordance with the coalition agreement, if a member of the left wing in the coalition is responsible for its failure, Bennett will remain the prime minister of a transitional government. Should a right wing member be the one who will end the government's term, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid will assume the position at the head of a caretaker cabinet.
It is unclear how Zoabi Rinawie will vote. Political sources said that currently she and Lapid have been speaking in the past few hours.
"She won't serve the government on a silver platter to Ben Gvir and Smotrich," some of the sources said.