Israel's Netanyahu in crucial talks as he resists snap polls

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resisted calls for snap polls Sunday, saying elections now would be "unnecessary and wrong", ahead of what he called last-ditch talks to hold his embattled coalition together.

Netanyahu's right-wing coalition was thrown into crisis Wednesday after Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman's resignation over a controversial Gaza ceasefire deal, leading to speculation over whether early elections have become inevitable.

After Lieberman's withdrawal along with his Yisrael Beitenu party, Netanyahu's government was left clinging to a one-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.

Key coalition partners say that is unworkable.

Netanyahu, who has sought to delay calling elections, made his case at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"In a period of security sensitivity, it's unnecessary and wrong to go to elections," Netanyahu said.

He noted past instances when right-wing governments had called elections that did not turn out as they had hoped.

"We need to do whatever we can to avoid such mistakes," he said. Netanyahu planned to meet Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, whose centre-right Kulanu party holds 10 seats, at 6:30 PM (1630 GMT) on Sunday for what he called a "last attempt" to keep the government together.

Elections are not due until November 2019.

Kahlon has said he does not think it is possible to continue with the existing coalition.

"If (Netanyahu) pulls a rabbit out of his hat, we'll see," Kahlon told Israeli television Saturday.

"Meanwhile, I don't see a rabbit or a hat." Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party, which holds eight seats in parliament, has demanded the defence portfolio as a way of keeping the government together.

Netanyahu says he will take it over at least temporarily rather than hand the key ministry to one of his main right-wing rivals, though a last-minute deal could not be ruled out.

On Saturday, Bennett told Israeli television that Lieberman had "collapsed the government".

"There is no more government and we are heading towards elections," he said. "There is no other alternative."