Netanyahu's coalition crisis worsens

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is facing a worsening crisis, as more of its main allies appear poised to leave the ruling coalition. The Jewish Home Party, led by Economic Minister Naftali Bennet, has already threatened to withdraw from the coalition and now the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, announced that his party is running independently in future elections.

Bennett warned a few days ago that his party would quit Netanyahu’s coalition if the government agreed to release the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners, sparking a wave of recriminations that heightened over the weekend among members of the Likud Party.

Israel’s Housing Minister Uri Ariel told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday that the Israeli political arena was drifting towards holding early elections.

Earlier, former welfare and social service minister of the Likud Moshe Kahlon had announced his intention of establishing a new party to run for the next election.

A recent Yedioth Ahronoth poll revealed that any party formed by Kahlon would win ten seats in future elections while the Likud would lose nine seats.

Foreign Minister Lieberman told the newspaper that he “does not rule out finding a formula of cooperation with Kahlon”; however, at the same time he downplayed the seriousness of the Jewish Home threats to quit the coalition, saying “I do not expect Bennett to carry out his threats, in fact we are not looking too seriously at these threats.”

If the Jewish Home did carry out its threat and quit the coalition, Netanyahu would face limited options to keep his coalition standing. The possibility of uniting with the Labour Party faces strong opposition within the Likud itself, where six senior members have announced their opposition to such a move, while the option to unite with the right-wing Shas Party also seems unrealistic due to the prevailing disharmony between it and coalition partner Yesh Atid Party, led by Yair Lapid.

The current crisis is likely to result in holding early elections and although polls suggest that the right-wing camp will likely win the majority of seats, the Likud could lose as many as nine seats, which would weaken Netanyahu and raise questions about his ability to build a coalition to lead the right-wing camp.

Palestinian analysts believe that the threats are merely a game to deflect attention away from the government’s failed negotiations with the Palestinians, and yet no matter how long Netanyahu tries to prolong his mandate it seems that he will find himself in the midst of a new election battle with unexpected results.