Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been holding intensive talks in recent days aimed at blocking Gadi Eisenkot from forming a government, according to multiple reports.
Eisenkot and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman are each conducting separate negotiations with the chareidi parties in an attempt to bring them into a government under their leadership, the reports say.
A second front in the battle is the possibility of defections from Likud itself. Liberman told Ma'ariv: "The moment a government of 61 is formed, there is a high probability that at least 3–4 Knesset members from Likud could be brought in."
Liberman is not the first to make the claim. Other senior figures in the change bloc have argued that once a minority government is established, there will be Likud MKs who want to join it.
