Confidence in Netanyahu as he scrambles to form gov't

An American-born Israeli author and former politician hopes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can form a government – and fast.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin selected Netanyahu as the candidate with the best chance of forming a government. He now has up to six weeks to do so.

That move came after Rivlin failed to broker a unity government between Netanyahu and rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz following the stalemate election earlier this month.

David Rubin – the former mayor of the Israeli town of Shiloh and author of Trump and the Jews – shared his take on the current situation.

"Netanyahu is going to have to negotiate with Avigdor Lieberman of Israel Our Home Party,” Rubin asserted. “He's going to have to try and get him to come into the coalition or get somebody else to come into the coalition from the left."

However, Rubin says if Netanyahu fails to put together a coalition, then Gantz could be given a shot.

"He depended mainly on the 13 members of the anti-Israel Arab party, so his chances are even less of being able to form a government," the former Israeli leader explained.

So, in essence, Rubin hopes that Liberman will decide to play ball.

"Right now, he's being very stubborn, and he is not even willing to compromise,” he pointed out. “It's possible, as time goes on, he will decide to compromise – because that's what politicians usually do. As time goes on, the chances will become greater and greater that Liberman will compromise – and maybe even Gantz will compromise and there will be a stable united government."

With the constantly changing political climate in Israel of late, Rubin had a different take on things just one week ago.

“[One coming scenario is a] secular coalition [among the competing parties],” Rubin anticipated last week. “That will be relatively stable in terms of size,” he advises, “but would create great division within the country.”

Now, Rubin says only time will tell.