Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced calls for snap elections as “irresponsible” in an impassioned televised address and vowed to push on despite a coalition crisis threatening to bring down his government.
As the nation awaited word on whether Israel was headed for early polls, Mr Netanyahu used the prime-time address yesterday to defend his security credentials and make the case for why he wanted to hold his coalition together.
“The security of the country is above political considerations,” Mr Netanyahu said while insisting that calling elections now would be “irresponsible”.
But even as he prepared to speak, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a key coalition partner and one of Mr Netanyahu’s main right-wing rivals, announced he would give his own statement, due last night.
Mr Bennett’s far-right Jewish Home party had threatened to withdraw from Mr Netanyahu’s coalition if he was not given the defence portfolio.
But Mr Netanyahu said he intended to retain the defence portfolio, at least for now.
He also spoke of his military experience and said he could not publicly explain in detail the sensitive security moves currently being taken by Israel.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).