[redcarpet]

Herzog freezes coalition talks as Netanyahu courts Liberman

Yisrael Beytenu leader says he’s willing to join government if demands are met; Likud ministers urge PM to seal deal with himBY MARISSA NEWMAN May 18, 2016, 3:06 pm Times of Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet with Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the inclusion of the hawkish six-seat party in the razor-thin coalition, prompting Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog to say he was freezing the coalition talks he’s been holding with the premier.

Liberman on Wednesday held a press conference denying that Netanyahu, who has been steeped in marathon coalition negotiations with Herzog, ever directly extended an offer to his party to join the government, and said he would consider such a move if his demands were met.

“I heard repeatedly in the media that we received such-and-such offers,” said Liberman, adding that “we didn’t hear anything through official [channels].”

“We do not rule out — and have never ruled out — entering the government under certain conditions,” he continued. “There is no personal issue, and all the personal matters are irrelevant. If our main issues are addressed, we have what to talk about.”

Liberman’s party was demanding the defense portfolio, support for the death penalty for convicted terrorists, and efforts to resolve the pension crisis for Israelis from the former Soviet Union.

His ultra-nationalist party is the only right-wing faction in the opposition, which is led by the Zionist Union and includes the Joint (Arab) List. Netanyahu commands a 61-member coalition in the 120-seat Knesset, meaning the departure of any members could compromise his wafer-thin majority.

Liberman and Netanyahu ran on the same list in the 2013 elections, but had a public falling out in 2014 over the prime minister’s handling of the war in Gaza.

The prime minister subsequently called a meeting with Liberman for Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m, but sources close to the prime minister maintained the meetings did not “close the door to the Labor party.”

Herzog, though, in an address on Wednesday, said he would not continue the negotiations so long as Yisrael Beytenu’s inclusion in the coalition was on the table.

“Until Netanyahu decides where he is going, we will not conduct parallel negotiations,” announced Herzog.

“If Netanyahu wants to bring Liberman into the government, then let him do it,” Herzog said, insisting that Zionist Union would not serve in the coalition together with Liberman, and implying that his party was seeking the defense portfolio. “We will take them apart from the opposition.”

The quiet drift towards Labor entering the coalition is at least for the moment dropped.

[Zionist Nationalist]

If Labor want to survive as a party they need to drop herzog. he is very unpopular figure no way he ever gonna win the elections.