Now into day one of the third week of coalition talks, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud/Beitenu negotiators are having difficulty advancing efforts to build a coalition. The mandate for presenting the new coalition to the president expires in 28 days, after which, if he do desires, the president may permit an additional 14 days, or alternatively, give the mandate to the leader of another party.

Yisrael Hayom reports that on Friday, 5 Adar 5773 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu invited Labor Party leader Shelly Yacimovich for a second meeting in ongoing coalition talks, but she declined, apparently determined to remain in opposition. It appears senior Labor officials feel the differences in economic hashkafa between Netanyahu and socialist Laborites are simply too great to bridge to permit Labor to remain loyal to voters and enter the coalition.

Yisrael Beitenu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman however feels Labor is divided, releasing a statement over the weekend “I am not sure all Laborites feel this way,” seeking to persuade some of the Labor members to break away and join the coalition, offering them respectable cabinet posts in return for making such a move.

As far as Yacimovich is concerned, the prime minister is simply using her party to apply pressure on others, parties who are more likely to join his coalition.

Responding to rumors of some Labor Party MKs breaking away to enter the coalition, the daily Yisrael Hayom reports that persons close to Yacimovich discard the validity of such claims, calling them “utter nonsense”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)