Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is once again trying to persuade Machane Tzioni party leader MK Yitzchak Herzog to join his coalition, Channel 2 News reported on Motzei Shabbos following a similar effort in May 2016, which failed. Both sources close to PM Netanyahu and MK Herzog deny the accuracy of the report.

While most of the Machane Tzioni members expressed opposition to entering a Netanyahu-led coalition, Mr. Netanyahu was working to persuade Herzog to split off and bring an estimated 7-10 MKs with him into the coalition.

According to Channel 2, a secret meeting was held last week in Mr. Netanyahu’s Caesarea home.

Since the last attempt to enter the coalition, Herzog has fallen out of favor among many party members, who have called upon him to step down and permit primaries to replace him. Recent polls show the Machane Tzioni party would drop from its current 24 seats to a mere 10 seats if elections were held today.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)