Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to hold a “decisive” meeting last night with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon in a final bid to avert early elections.
Mr Netanyahu’s coalition was left with a single-seat majority in parliament after a walkout on Wednesday by defence minister Avigdor Lieberman and his hawkish Yisrael Beitenu party.
Mr Lieberman quit over a Gaza ceasefire deal, which on Tuesday ended the worst flare-up between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war.
Mr Kahlon’s centre-right Kulanu party holds 10 parliamentary seats and is vital to the survival of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition.
While elections are scheduled for next November, Mr Kahlon has called for polls to be held “as soon as possible”.
“I’m going to meet Moshe Kahlon before the weekly ministers’ council Sunday for one last attempt to convince him not to bring down the government,” Mr Netanyahu, who heads Likud, said on Twitter. “We can’t bring down a right-wing government. All members of Likud want to continue serving the state for another year.”
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).