Netanyahu and Kahlon meet again over broadcaster logjam

Election speculation swirls, and alternative coalitions are teased, as fourth round of talks ends without agreement

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met on Wednesday in an attempt to broker a solution to the growing crisis over the new broadcasting authority, which is threatening to break apart the coalition and lead to early elections.

It was the two men’s fourth meeting in as many days, and like the previous meetings, it ended without a resolution to the standoff.

An unnamed coalition source told the Haaretz daily that the deadline for finding a solution is next Wednesday, although he did not specify what the outcome would be if no compromise is reached by then.

The source also said that the talks between Netanyahu and Kahlon have yielded little progress, as “they are unable to successfully highlight [what is] the problem.”

The long-simmering crisis escalated last week when Netanyahu backtracked on an agreement with Kahlon to launch the new public broadcasting corporation — set up through a law passed by his previous government in 2014 and slated to replace the old Israel Broadcasting Authority, or IBA.

Netanyahu has threatened to call early elections if the coalition refuses to cancel reforms advanced by his own Likud party that would shutter the IBA and launch the replacement broadcaster, called “Kan,” by April 30.

The Israel Broadcasting Authority building in Jerusalem on March 6, 2014. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) — The Israel Broadcasting Authority building in Jerusalem, March 6, 2014 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The prime minister is reportedly demanding that more of the employees of the existing broadcast authority be given jobs in the new corporation and that there be a delay of one month until the new body begins to operate.

Employees of the old broadcasting authority demonstrated Wednesday in front of the Knesset, demanding that they not be fired. Two of them were arrested when they attempted to enter the parliament building, police said.

Despite affirming that his primary concern is saving jobs at the IBA, Netanyahu is widely believed to be opposed to the new body because he perceives it as being too left-wing. Netanyahu has long complained of a media hostile to him.

If Kahlon refused to scrap the new broadcaster, “we’ll go to elections,” Netanyahu was reported to have told Likud ministers at his home earlier this month. Kahlon does not want to nix the new corporation, saying such a move would waste massive funds.

The ongoing crisis has fueled speculation not only of new elections but also of possible new coalition configurations, most of them involving the opposition Zionist Union, which has at various times in recent years been in talks to join the government.

On Tuesday, after an earlier meeting between Kahlon and Netanyahu, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party wrote on Twitter that he had met Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog at a bar mitzvah. Deri said that “in light of the challenges facing the country, Herzog and his party need to join the government.”

Herzog replied to Deri’s tweet, saying that Deri and Shas should join a government headed by the Zionist Union. “This is the right solution for Israel,” he said.

Kahlon was spotted talking with Herzog at the same bar mitzvah party, after his meeting with Netanyahu.

הופה. והנה כחלון הגיע לעדכן אחרי הפגישה. הבר מצווה של הבן של אריאל משעל היא המקום הכי לוהט בעיר. בתמונה: ממשלה חלופית pic.twitter.com/7I66gZFoix

— Tal Shalev (@talshalev1) March 28, 2017

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) also contributed to the intrigue on Tuesday when he posted a picture of himself with Herzog on their way back from the AIPAC conference in Washington with the caption “Love in the skies.”

אהבה בשחקים. pic.twitter.com/kaJAqX4max

— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) March 28, 2017

Other coalition members have balked at the idea of going to elections, with Deri saying last week that such a move would be “unforgivable.”

Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich at the party's weekly Knesset faction meeting on January 23, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90) — Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich at the party’s weekly Knesset faction meeting on January 23, 2017 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Rabble-rousing Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich also jumped into the fray, telling Army Radio on Wednesday that “Netanyahu and Kahlon will pay a high price if there are elections,” which he said would be “stupid” and “unnecessary.”

“If we go to elections solely over ego considerations because Kahlon climbed up a tree that he isn’t prepared to climb down from, it will be sad, it would be a shame,” he added.

The last elections were held in March 2015 and the next elections are not scheduled to take place until late 2019.