Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will appeal on Saturday night to President Shimon Peres for a discretionary 14-day extension to his as-yet inconclusive coalition negotiations Saturday night, as the complicated wrangling process between left and right-wing political factions looked unlikely to produce results by Friday’s initial 28-day deadline.
Netanyahu has been involved in intense talks with Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s right-centrist Habayit Hayehudi-Yesh Atid alliance over their possible inclusion in the next government, in a move which would almost certainly leave his more traditional partners, ultra-Orthodox parties such as Shas, out in the cold.
Tzipi Livni’s centrist Hatnuah party is so far the only party to have signed up to join Netanyahu’s rainbow coalition, amid his repeated calls for as broad-based unity government as possible to push through a political agenda likely to hinge largely on his plans to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians, the lead role in which was granted to Livni as part of the coalition deal.
Secular Yesh Atid are thought however to strongly object to sitting in a government alongside ultra-Orthodox elements, with Bennett similarly objecting to Livni’s inclusion in the unity coalition.
On Friday, David Shimron, head of Netanyahu’s Likud party’s legal coalition negotiations team, started “crisis talks” with Habayit Hayehudi to determine whether they, like Lapid, are opposed to allying with the ultra-Orthodox.
The opposition to their inclusion arises from another key focal point for the next government, the ongoing issue of a replacement Tal Law, a law defining the terms of drafting ultra-Orthodox male youths into the Israeli army, which has caused an ideological rift between Secular and religious parties.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri slammed reports of Yesh Atid’s ultimatum Thursday, as he insisted it revealed the underlying issue lay in his “pure hatred of the ultra-Orthodox”.
Shas co-leader Eli Yishai said his party would like to be part of the coalition, but would not hesitate to be a determined part of the opposition as long as the government stood – a reference to the reports that Netanyahu hoped to bring in haredi parties later.
Both Lapid and Bennett have previously said they would oppose Netanyahu’s latest proposal for a replacement draft law which laid out plans for a 60% draft goal of 18-24 year old ultra-Orthodox males within the next five years, with Kadima head and short-lived 2012 coalition partner Shaul Mofaz joining suit.
Shimron meanwhile implied that Likud’s team would be working to lean on Habayit Hayehudi to break its pact with Yesh Atid as he said prior to talks with Lapid’s faction Thursday that they were “continuing efforts to form a broad coalition that will include the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), Habayit Hayehudi, and we hope Yesh Atid and (fellow centrist and Livni’s former party) Kadima”, as further reports suggested Netanyahu might amend the terms of his agreement with Hatnuah to woo sceptical Bennett into aligning with Livni.
After Netanyahu confirmed the centrist leader would head peace talks to “end the conflict once and for all”, Bennett questioned, at a conference of his right-wing party, whether the government would “maintain the land of Israel with Jerusalem as the capital or will we place the negotiations in the hands of someone who has already offered to divide Jerusalem and give up Ariel”, in a marked assault on Livni’s concessional negotiating tactics.
Despite widespread reports Netanyahu was close this week to bringing Bennett’s part on board, a Habayit Hayehudi source claimed Wednesday that whilst they had reached “understanding on some issues, we’re not close to signing a coalition agreement yet”.
The statement will likely cause some concern for the Israeli Premier who is not just working against the clock to form a government within the prescribed period according to Israeli electoral convention, but will also have one eye on US President Barack Obama’s looming March 20 visit to the Jewish State, his first since assuming office in 2008.
Channel 10 television reported that Obama would cancel his trip to Israel this month if a coalition were not formed by March 16.