Lapid nixes Europe trip to deal with coalition issues at home

Finance Minister Yair Lapid has canceled his trip to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development conference in Europe due to the ongoing coalition crisis revolving around the issue of universal conscription, his office said on Tuesday.

Lapid was due to fly to Paris Tuesday afternoon to attend a meeting of finance ministers from OECD countries, but “decided to stay in Israel until the equal burden crisis is settled.”

On Monday, Lapid said that if the universal draft issue was not resolved, his party, Yesh Atid, would leave the governing coalition, which would almost certainly lead to new national elections.

Later that day it appeared that a compromise had been reached, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to back down on his demand that ultra-Orthodox citizens who don’t register for service not face immediate criminal penalties, contrary to a key requirement of Yesh Atid.