Netanyahu Challenge to Legality of Rival’s PM Bid Is Rebuffed

Netanyahu Challenge to Legality of Rival’s PM Bid Is Rebuffed
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a political statement in the Knesset, in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 30, 2021. Yonatan Sindel/Pool via Reuters
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JERUSALEM—A last-gasp legal challenge by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to thwart a bid by a rival to head a new government was rejected on Tuesday as his opponents raced to seal a pact that would unseat him.

Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s former defense minister, announced on Sunday he would join a proposed alliance with opposition leader Yair Lapid, serving as its premier first under a rotation deal.