Axios: “With his mandate to form a government due to expire in two weeks, and his rivals’ efforts to form an alternative coalition gaining momentum, Netanyahu has a new strategy: changing the election rules. If Netanyahu can’t form a coalition by May 4, he will face the real danger of losing the prime minister’s post for the first time in 12 years. The mandate would likely pass to opposition leader Yair Lapid, who would have 28 days to try to form a unity government with Naftali Bennett, the right-wing kingmaker whom both sides have been courting. Netanyahu’s only path to a majority would require him to bring in the Islamist Ra’am party, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“But he has been unable to convince the radical right-wing Religious Zionism party, which includes Jewish supremacists, to join a government supported by Ra’am. Right now, he appears stuck. Worse, Netanyahu lost a crucial vote on Monday in the Knesset on the formation of the parliamentary committee that will control the Knesset agenda. While Bennett voted with Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, Lapid and another right-wing Netanyahu rival, Gideon Sa’ar, convinced Ra’am to vote with the anti-Netanyahu bloc, giving them a majority. The loss was a major blow for Netanyahu and his Likud party. ‘We are aware we are probably going to be in the opposition soon. Netanyahu will be the head of the opposition,’ Likud whip Miki Zohar said after the vote.”