Liberman set to announce whether he’ll join coalition

Yisraeli Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman was set to reveal on Monday whether he intends to join a government coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or opt for a stint in the opposition.

Liberman, whose party won six seats in the March 17 elections, called a press conference at a meeting of his faction in the Knesset Monday afternoon. He is currently serving as foreign minister and would likely continue in that position if he chooses to partner with Netanyahu.

But he is said to be deeply unhappy with the concessions extracted from the prime minister by the United Torah Judaism party, which has already signed on to join the coalition.

Under the deal with UTJ, several major reforms drafted by the previous government and aimed at integrating the ultra-Orthodox community into mainstream Israeli society will be frozen, including aspects of legislation to phase the ultra-Orthodox community — known as Haredim — into mandatory military or national service. During the previous government, Yisraeli Beytenu partnered in the ultra-Orthodox draft legislation and Liberman strongly opposes rolling it back.

UTJ has also secured assurances from Netanyahu that the next government will cancel and refund reductions in child allowances, as well as cuts to the state’s ultra-Orthodox educational system.

With its paltry showing at the polls, Yisrael Beytenu would also be hard-pressed to pass many of the initiatives it pledged to enact in the run-up to the election, including legislating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism.

Netanyahu has two more days to finish cobbling together a coalition, to which he has so far enlisted UJT and the newly formed Kulanu party, headed by Moshe Kahlon. Together with Likud the prime minister so far has 46 seats in his coalition, out of a total 120 in the Knesset.

Negotiations continue with the Jewish Home and the ultra-Orthodox Shas parties, which between them would bring another 15 seats into the coalition for a narrow majority of 61.

According to a report from Channel 2 there has been no contact between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu for several days.

Although Netanyahu can still reach a majority without Yisrael Beytenu, he is said to be unwilling to build a government on such a slim margin.

Meanwhile, Jewish Home and Shas have been squabbling over control of the Religious Affairs Ministry. Shas, which says it was promised the ministership, opposes a Jewish Home bid to for a deputy ministership. In addition, Shas leader Aryeh Deri is said to have been assured that his demand for 0% value-added tax on basic staples will be met.

Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett looks set to gain the education, agriculture and culture and sport ministries for his party while giving up the economy ministry to Shas. However, Bennett has demanded another NIS 1 billion ($260 million) for the Education Ministry and requested that NIS 1 billion earmarked for ultra-Orthodox education be taken directly from the Finance Ministry and not the education budget, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.

On Sunday the coalition contracts signed by Kulanu and UJT were published, giving other MKs and the public a first look at what they had each received.

As expected, the Kulanu party was granted the ministries of finance, environmental protection, and housing and construction.

Under a coalition agreement with UTJ, MK Yaakov Litzman will be appointed deputy health minister (UTJ party members do not assume top ministerial positions on ideological-religious grounds). UTJ MKs will also fill the position of deputy education minister, chair the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, and serve as deputy chair of the Knesset.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.