Netanyahu Plays Haredi Card as Talks Stall

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Wednesday to open lightning-round negotiations with the ultra-Orthodox parties following the aggressive stance taken by Yesh Atid’s leader Yair Lapid.

“If there isn’t a breakthrough with Lapid in the coming hours, and he doesn’t back down from his exaggerated demands, the prime minister will began lightning talks with the Haredi parties,” the Likud party said in a statement.

Sources close to the negotiations stated that Lapid backtracked Wednesday morning from a number of understandings that had been previously reached, and at the same time has refused to show any flexibility regarding the long list of topics being discussed by the negotiation teams.

“It’s still too early to label the talks a failure, but there’s no doubt that Lapid’s negotiation team is letting us down with the tack they are taking,” said a Likud source involved in the negotiations.

For more, go to Haaretz.com