Coalition Rumblings Persist, Likud Looks Outward

YERUSHALAYIM

More rumblings of a coalition crisis were heard on Thursday, as Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that the government must soon choose between enlargement or extinction.

“The government will not be able to last much longer,” Erdan told Army Radio. “I hope that Zionist Camp or another party will show responsibility and join the government; we don’t need to go to elections.”

A similar warning was voiced by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon earlier in the week, and there have been unconfirmed reports of contacts between the Likud and opposition parties.

Erdan forecast major dysfunction in the form of inablility to pass the state budget, without a broader coalition.

“If the government is not expanded, it will be very difficult to pass a biannual budget, and therefore the government will not be able to last much longer. It will be bad for the public.”

According to recent polls, if elections were held now, the current single-seat majority coalition would be voted out of power.

When asked a few days ago if he would lead an effort to form a new coalition replacing that of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Kahlon did not rule out the possibility.

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