US economy slows to 1.6% in Q1 of '24 – BEA    EMX appoints Al-Jarawi as deputy chairman    Mexico's inflation exceeds expectations in 1st half of April    GAFI empowers entrepreneurs, startups in collaboration with African Development Bank    Egyptian exporters advocate for two-year tax exemption    Egyptian Prime Minister follows up on efforts to increase strategic reserves of essential commodities    Italy hits Amazon with a €10m fine over anti-competitive practices    Environment Ministry, Haretna Foundation sign protocol for sustainable development    After 200 days of war, our resolve stands unyielding, akin to might of mountains: Abu Ubaida    World Bank pauses $150m funding for Tanzanian tourism project    China's '40 coal cutback falls short, threatens climate    Swiss freeze on Russian assets dwindles to $6.36b in '23    Amir Karara reflects on 'Beit Al-Rifai' success, aspires for future collaborations    Ministers of Health, Education launch 'Partnership for Healthy Cities' initiative in schools    Egyptian President and Spanish PM discuss Middle East tensions, bilateral relations in phone call    Amstone Egypt unveils groundbreaking "Hydra B5" Patrol Boat, bolstering domestic defence production    Climate change risks 70% of global workforce – ILO    Health Ministry, EADP establish cooperation protocol for African initiatives    Prime Minister Madbouly reviews cooperation with South Sudan    Ramses II statue head returns to Egypt after repatriation from Switzerland    Egypt retains top spot in CFA's MENA Research Challenge    Egyptian public, private sectors off on Apr 25 marking Sinai Liberation    EU pledges €3.5b for oceans, environment    Egypt forms supreme committee to revive historic Ahl Al-Bayt Trail    Debt swaps could unlock $100b for climate action    Acts of goodness: Transforming companies, people, communities    President Al-Sisi embarks on new term with pledge for prosperity, democratic evolution    Amal Al Ghad Magazine congratulates President Sisi on new office term    Egypt starts construction of groundwater drinking water stations in South Sudan    Egyptian, Japanese Judo communities celebrate new coach at Tokyo's Embassy in Cairo    Uppingham Cairo and Rafa Nadal Academy Unite to Elevate Sports Education in Egypt with the Introduction of the "Rafa Nadal Tennis Program"    Financial literacy becomes extremely important – EGX official    Euro area annual inflation up to 2.9% – Eurostat    BYD، Brazil's Sigma Lithium JV likely    UNESCO celebrates World Arabic Language Day    Motaz Azaiza mural in Manchester tribute to Palestinian journalists    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Israel's Netanyahu fights to form a majority coalition
Published in Albawaba on 05 - 05 - 2015

Israeli coalition talks took on heightened urgency Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still short of even the slimmest majority 36 hours from the deadline to form a government.
Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party won 30 seats in the March 17 general election and has so far signed coalition agreements with two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and the center-right Kulanu led by Likud defector Moshe Kahlon.
That gives him the backing of 53 seats, still woefully short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset or parliament.
If Netanyahu is unable to form a coalition by midnight Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin must then assign another party leader to the task, with a 28-day deadline.
If that fails, he must select a third person who has just 14 days to complete the task. And if that also ends in failure, Rivlin would call a new election.
Incumbent Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dropped a bombshell Monday when he announced that his six-seat Yisrael Beitenu party would not be part of the next coalition.
Netanyahu now needs to sign up the far-right Jewish Home party of Naftali Bennett, which has eight seats, to achieve even a minimum workable majority of 61.
"The responsibility for forming a nationalist government rests now on Naftali Bennett's shoulders," Likud said in a statement Monday night.
It said Jewish Home had been offered several cabinet portfolios including education, agriculture, the post of deputy defense minister and a seat on the powerful security cabinet.
Jewish Home argued that if it enabled formation of a 61-member coalition Netanyahu would soon seek to bring in the center-left Zionist Union, gambling that a broader base would prove more stable, despite the displeasure of his own right flank.
"Since that's the case, we demand beyond the education and agriculture ministries another ministry with dramatic influence on national decision-making junctions, which would leave us with a hand on the wheel even when the left joins the government," Jewish Home Director General Nir Orbach wrote in a message to party activists Monday.
Analysts agreed that a coalition with a working majority of just one vote would probably be short-lived, one way or another.
"It won't collapse tomorrow or the next day, but in our current system of government, it's clear that a coalition of 61... will have trouble functioning for long," Yossi Verter wrote in Haaretz newspaper.
"Let's see it pass the far-reaching reforms promised by Kahlon. It certainly won't serve out its term - which it seemed almost certain to do before Lieberman, with a big grin, dropped his bombshell yesterday [Monday]."
Tuesday, Jewish Home refused to comment on the state of negotiations or say if meetings with Likud were planned during the day.
Maariv newspaper's Ben Caspit also maintained that Kahlon, who campaigned on a platform of banking and housing reform, was likely to see his ambitions unrealized in the face of such a large parliamentary opposition.
"The really big loser [in addition to Netanyahu] from Lieberman's suicide bombing attack yesterday, is Moshe Kahlon," Caspit wrote.
"In a 61-member coalition, the chances of his passing reforms approach zero."
Before Lieberman bailed out, Netanyahu had hoped to forge a rightwing religious line-up with a majority of 67 of parliament's 120 seats.
During negotiations, Lieberman had reportedly laid down a number of far-reaching demands for his agreement to join the coalition, including full responsibility for dialogue with Washington.
He also demanded that the government adopt as a strategic goal the removal of the Islamist Hamas movement as the de facto power in Gaza.
Speaking Monday, Lieberman said it was clear that Israel's next government had "no intention of overthrowing the Hamas regime."


Clic here to read the story from its source.