Netanyahu Tells Lawmakers at Knesset: We’ll Win Elections, but We’re Not There Yet

Mar

admin

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing the prospect of early elections as he remains embroiled in scandal surrounding several criminal investigations, told Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset on Monday that "if there are elections, we will win – but we are not there yet."

"The hour is late but not too late, we must make one last effort to keep the govt in its current composition," he added.

Netanyahu blasted opposition lawmakers, saying that "you stood here and you determined, passed verdicts in an authoritative tone. You said I ruined the relations with the U.S.- they’ve never been stronger. You said I exaggerated the Iranian threat – the whole world recognizes that threat."

The opposition, he said, "wants the government to remain because it’s afraid of elections." Turning to his coalition partners, Netanyahu that "because of the immense challenges, I call on my friends – chiefly among them [Defense Minister Avigdor] Lieberman and the ultra-Orthodox – and I tell them that the hour is late but too late. We must act responsibly. The country needs a stable government that functions over time – it needs our government."

All of Yisrael Beiteinu’s Knesset members, including Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, will vote against the compromise bill on exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service, said Lieberman at a meaning of the party’s MKs on Monday afternoon.

Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter

Email*

Please enter a valid email address

Please wait…

Thank you for signing up.

We’ve got more newsletters we think you’ll find interesting.

Click here

Oops. Something went wrong.

Please try again later.

Try again

Thank you,

The email address you have provided is already registered.

The controversial bill lies at the center of a conflict between the ultra-orthodox parties and Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu, which vehemently opposes the current draft. Both sides have threatened to disband the coalition if their demands regarding the bill are not met, which would prompt a snap election. Israel’s next election is currently scheduled for November 2019.

It is still unclear whether Lieberman’s opposition to the bill is the final straw that will lead to the break-up of the coalition government and snap elections.

“This is a classic fake law, theater of the absurd,” Lieberman added. But Lieberman made it clear that his party would leave the government coalition unless the bill passed its final reading in the Knesset and became law, and not just because it passes a preliminary vote.

The government coalition has enough votes to pass the bill without Yisrael Beiteinu, and now the ball is in the court of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party. Earlier, a number of Kulanu MKs said they would not support the bill if Lieberman did not support it.

Yisrael Beitenu MKs also said Monday their party would vote against the compromise reached Sunday night between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ultra-orthodox coalition parties regarding the contentious haredi draft bill.

Economy Minister and leader of Habayit Hayehudi party Naftali Bennett spoke after Lieberman and maintained the current impasse is a "fake crisis."

"It’s not only a fake crisis," he said, "there is fake leadership here, which prefers chasing after polls to telling voters the truth." Bennett called on all coalition members "to be leaders." "Let’s do the right thing for Israel," he said, "and let’s continue to have a good national government.