Netanyahu, sick, cancels coalition talks on defusing crisis

Citing ill-health, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday canceled marathon coalition talks aimed at defusing an escalating political crisis that is threatening to bring down his government.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to hold talks later in the day with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and other cabinet ministers in a bid to resolve tensions over the launch of a new public broadcasting corporation, but according to reports, the prime minister got sick on his recent visit to China and would not be able to attend.

The report said a new date for the talks had not yet been set.

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

His threat sent his coalition into turmoil, with even ministers in his own Likud party coming out publicly against new elections.

Negotiations between Kahlon and Netanyahu’s liaisons, aimed at reaching a compromise regarding broadcasting policy that would stave off the prime minister’s threat, have failed to yield an agreement.

The long-simmering crisis escalated Saturday evening 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. If Kahlon refused to scrap the new broadcaster, “we’ll go to elections,” Netanyahu was reported to have told Likud ministers at his home.

Kahlon disagreed with nixing the new corporation, saying such a move would waste massive funds.

Earlier this week, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said going to elections over the issue of the broadcaster would be “unforgivable” and that Netanyahu and coalition leaders would work to defuse the coalition crisis when the prime minister returned from China.

The Shas minister told Channel 2 he spoke with coalition party leaders, including Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beytenu and Naftali Bennett of Jewish Home, on Sunday. He said that on Thursday, the coalition leaders would meet and “won’t leave the room until a solution is found.”

On Monday, reports from sources close to Netanyahu and Kahlon said a compromise was in the works that would see the current top management of the new broadcaster — long criticized by Netanyahu as “left-wing” — replaced. But early on Tuesday, officials negotiating in Netanyahu’s name, including Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and coalition chairman MK David Bitan, received word from the prime minister that he opposed all compromises that left the new corporation intact.

Kahlon has dismissed the entire controversy as “just spin,” telling a conference on Tuesday that he had not spoken to the prime minister since Friday.

Hebrew media also reported Monday that the corporation’s decision to hire veteran news anchor Geula Even had stiffened Netanyahu’s resolve to oppose the body. Even is married to Gideon Sa’ar, a former interior and education minister and a rising star in the Likud party until he resigned from political life in 2014. Sa’ar is widely expected to return to the Knesset at some point, possibly to run against Netanyahu for the premiership.

Likud officials have warned in recent days that the ruling party stood a good chance of losing a new election, as the current crisis would likely cost it the support of Kahlon’s party in any future coalition talks, while poll favorite Yesh Atid might be able to piece together a coalition with both right- and left-wing parties.