Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday 28 Tishrei will meet with coalition faction leaders in the hope of reaching an understanding before the opening of the Knesset winter session. While some predict elections are inevitable, not everyone is pessimistic and some are confident that despite major differences between faction members, the winter session will pass without the coalition breaking apart.

At a birthday party arranged for him by employees of the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday 27 Tishrei, the prime minister stressed the need to get back to work when the winter session begins, adding “the last thing the nation needs now it early elections. We want to continue with this government and this Knesset to lead the nation and together with you I am certain we will do this”.

The faction members are at odds, particularly the six-person The Movement party which sponsored the Giyur Bill that Mr. Netanyahu removed from the cabinet agenda earlier in the week. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the party remains committed to pushing her bill through with the support of the liberal members of Knesset. She threatened that if the bill is defeated her party will break from the coalition.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)