Israeli PM-Designate Bennett’s Party Meets Ahead of Crucial Vote

Israel’s designated prime minister Naftali Bennett on Friday convened a crucial party meeting at his home in Raanana, looking to shore up support among his Yamina party members ahead of next week’s fateful vote. The intended unity government, headed jointly by Bennett and center-left bloc leader Yair Lapid, claims to have the required 61 yea votes to swear in their coalition and unseat Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Yet Bennett has already lost one party member who announced last month he would vote nay, and he is dangerously close to losing another. Following the meeting, Yamina MPs said they were confident no further defectors would appear. If the ambitious endeavor fails, Netanyahu will remain prime minister while Israel, in all likelihood, will head to the polls for the fifth time in two and a half years.