Pressure mounts on Netanyahu to call early elections
▶ Israeli government coalition falters after defence minister’s resignation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fought to save his tottering government after his defence minister’s resignation, pinning his hopes on a crucial meeting yesterday with a wavering coalition ally.
A meeting between Mr Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon yesterday aimed at resolving the coalition crisis ended “without results” and they will meet again this week, Mr Kahlon’s spokesman said.
The finance minister has urged the prime minister to go for early elections after Avigdor Lieberman’s departure last week left the government in control of just 61 out of 120 parliamentary seats.
It is not possible to govern with such a narrow coalition, which will be subject to constant pressures from its partners, Mr Kahlon told Hadashot News on Saturday.
Before his meeting with Mr Netanyahu he had said he would keep an open mind. “Maybe he’ll pull a rabbit out of his hat,” Mr Kahlon said.
“Although for a long time it seems there has been no rabbit and no hat.”
The coalition was thrown into turmoil when Mr Lieberman resigned and pulled his Yisrael Beiteinu party’s five politicians out of the government, saying Mr Netanyahu was not responding forcefully enough to rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who also wants a harsher line on Gaza, demanded the defence portfolio after Mr Lieberman left. In a meeting on Friday, Mr Netanyahu said he would keep the defence portfolio for himself for now. Speaking on Israel’s Meet the
Press on Saturday, Mr Bennett said he and Mr Netanyahu had agreed the government could not survive and early elections would have to be called.
Yet a spokesman for the prime minister said no such decision had been taken and the government should serve out its final year. Elections are scheduled for November next year.
“There’s no reason to go to elections,” the spokesman said. “A right-wing government shouldn’t be toppled.”
If elections are indeed moved up, the current government, formed in 2015, would be the last in a long line of coalitions to fall apart before their terms expired. Israeli commentators predicted elections would be advanced to March.
They are not expected to produce a significantly changed parliament, however.
According to a Hadashot News poll on Saturday, Mr Netanyahu’s Likud would remain the dominant party, with its representation stable at 30 seats; Mr Bennett’s Jewish Home party would rise slightly to 10 seats and Mr Kahlon’s Kulanu would fall from 10 to eight.
Both said they expected elections to produce another conservative government under Mr Netanyahu. Such calculations have proved wrong in the past once the election genie is out of the bottle. In 1992, hardliners toppled a Likud-led government expecting to further strengthen their hold; instead, the Labour Party swept to power under Yitzhak Rabin and went on to sign the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians.
Labour’s current leader, Avi Gabbay, said he would be glad if elections were called – “the earlier, the better”. Polls show the Zionist Union faction, which includes Labour, falling from 24 seats to just 12 if elections were held today.
“The public has to choose between the Likud, which tells the public they should be grateful for the way things are, and us, who are promoting a change for the better,” Mr Gabbay said on Saturday.
There have been months of speculation about whether Mr Netanyahu would disband an unruly government and seek a popular mandate, despite the corruption allegations hanging over his head.
A two-year-old investigation against the prime minister is inching towards a conclusion, with Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit due to decide whether to indict him in several cases.
Some commentators have reasoned that if the prime minister goes to early elections and wins big, Mr Mandelblit might hesitate to take action against him.
Mr Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in the cases against him, contending that he is the victim of a leftist cabal that wants to bring down his conservative government.
But he also faces criticism from residents of southern Israel, who feel the government is not doing enough to neutralise rocket fire and other threats from the Gaza Strip.
Maybe he’ll pull a rabbit out of his hat. Although for a long time it seems there has been no rabbit and no hat MOSHE KAHLON Israeli Finance Minister