Emergency overnight coalition talks in an attempt to bridge gaps between the ultra-Orthodox parties and the secular Yisrael Beytenu party failed to yield a solution, Hebrew-language media reported Sunday morning, with just four days remaining until the deadline for announcing a new government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the head of his Likud party’s negotiations team, MK Yariv Levin, with unnamed officials telling the media no progress was made in trying to reconcile the conflicting demands regarding highly contentious legislation regulating the number of ultra-Orthodox seminar students drafted to the military.
Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman said on Saturday that his party would endorse no other candidate for prime minister except Benjamin Netanyahu, but also that Israel may be headed for fresh elections unless the ruling Likud party agrees to a number of Yisrael Beytenu’s core demands, chiefly by passing the so-called Haredi draft bill.
Likud won 35 seats in the April 9 election. Two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), each won eight seats. Moshe Kahlon’s center-right Kulanu won four. And the hawkish Union of Right-Wing Parties (URWP) won five. Together, these parties hold 60 seats in the 120-member Knesset, and Netanyahu also needs the secular, right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, with its five seats, for a majority.
With just four days to go until the May 29 deadline for Netanyahu to form a government, Liberman urged Likud to accept its demands. “Accept our proposal [on the Haredi draft law]. If not, we will again go to elections. The people will decide whether they want a right-wing government or an ultra-Orthodox government,” he wrote.
He did offer a suggestion for resolving the standoff, however, suggesting that ultra-Orthodox legislators could leave the Knesset plenum if and when the Haredi draft law was finally approved, “just as they did when it passed its first reading” in the last Knesset.
Several news outlets reported Sunday morning that Netanyahu is estimating that Liberman will not budge from his stance that the Haredi draft law must pass without any change from the version that passed its first reading in the Knesset last year — a non-starter for the ultra-Orthodox parties — and that he is interested in new elections.
Most political analysts on Thursday still assessed that Netanyahu would manage to persuade all five other parties — UTJ, Shas, the Union of Right-Wing Parties, Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu — to join his Likud in a 65-strong coalition ahead of Wednesday’s deadline for doing so.
If that doesn’t happen, President Reuven Rivlin will have to decide whether to task another Knesset member with forming the next coalition. Since the prevailing assessment is that nobody will be able to secure the 61-seat majority needed, that scenario would likely lead to fresh Knesset elections, months after the April 9 vote.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said it would be “unfortunate” to put Israelis through another election campaign, as his Likud party said it was bracing for snap polls if no compromise could be reached with Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman in the coming days to persuade him to enter the next government.
Four days before the deadline to form a coalition, Netanyahu has yet to ink a deal with any of his prospective partners. The sticking point is a bill on the ultra-Orthodox military draft, which the Haredi political parties seek to soften, and which must swiftly be re-legislated under Supreme Court order. Liberman, meanwhile, has insisted he won’t budge from the Defense Ministry-drafted version of the bill regulating the number of ultra-Orthodox seminary students drafted to the military.
Likud won 35 seats in the April 9 election. Two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), each won eight seats. Moshe Kahlon’s center-right Kulanu won four. And the hawkish Union of Right-Wing Parties (URWP) won five. Together, these parties hold 60 seats in the 120-member Knesset, and Netanyahu also needs the secular, right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, with its five seats, for a majority.
Netanyahu on Sunday told reporters that with “goodwill” the deadlock in talks with Liberman could be resolved.
“It’s unfortunate. I don’t think we need to drag the country through another election, but perhaps there is someone who wants that,” said Netanyahu at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
As reports in Hebrew media signaled that Likud was poised to open its campaign headquarters and cancel its party primaries in anticipation of a new election, the right-wing party said it was preparing for such a scenario but still held out hope for a breakthrough.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is formulating a solution that will allow for the establishment of a right-wing government with the [military] draft law,” Likud said.
“At the same time, in the event Liberman continues to insist on felling the government, Likud will start preparing for elections,” it added.
Netanyahu’s party also denied reports it would seek to dissolve the nascent government on Monday, saying no decision had been made on the issue.
On Wednesday, at 11:59 p.m., the deadline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government will officially expire, according to the president’s office, possibly heralding new elections.
But should he fail to build a coalition by then, Netanyahu may actually be able to buy himself another 14 more days, exercising a never-before-used legal provision, analysts say.
Netanyahu has yet to ink a deal with any of his prospective coalition partners. With time rapidly running out, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman has shown no indication he will budge on the key issue in the talks: the ultra-Orthodox military enlistment bill, which he insists must be passed into law unchanged, while the Haredi parties seek revisions to soften the contentious legislation.
The Likud party on Sunday said it was hoping for a breakthrough in the talks, but was preparing for elections in the event the standoff persists.
Without Yisrael Beytenu, Likud could theoretically form a minority government, provided Liberman and his party did not vote against such a coalition. However, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon ruled out such a possibility during a meeting Thursday with Netanyahu and other party leaders, Hebrew-language media reported.
Should Liberman continue to dig his heels in through Wednesday night, Netanyahu would more likely seek to secure another two-week reprieve under the law.
Once Netanyahu’s deadline expires, President Reuven Rivlin has the option to approach another Knesset member and task them with forming a government. But with no clear path for the second-largest party, Blue and White, to form a coalition, he is unlikely to offer the option to the opposition, according to Channel 12’s Amit Segal.
The president could also turn to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and ask to dissolve the Knesset, kicking off new elections.
If 61 or more MKs back Netanyahu in writing, which is likely as even Yisrael Beytenu has said it won’t endorse anyone but Netanyahu for the job, he can be granted another 14 days for coalition talks.
But that gambit, too, puts Netanyahu again at the mercy of Liberman, whose support he would need to extend his mandate.
The prime minister may also have other reasons to be wary of this option: Netanyahu has previously expressed suspicion that Rivlin could hand the job to a different Likud member, such as rival Gideon Sa’ar, given the opportunity, though the president has shown no sign of doing so.
No comments:
Post a Comment