TEL AVIV—The leader of a key party in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition on Friday pushed for early elections, according to people familiar with the matter, adding to pressure on Mr. Netanyahu as he seeks to preserve his government.
Naftali Bennett, the head of the conservative Jewish Home Party who has been seeking the defense minister post, met with Mr. Netanyahu on Friday and now believes there is “no possibility of continuing the current government,” according to people close to him.
Mr. Netanyahu’s government’s was thrown into crisis earlier this week by the resignation of Avigdor Lieberman, the hard-line defense minister, over the prime minister’s Gaza policy. Mr. Lieberman pulled his Yisrael Beitenu party out of the coalition, cutting its majority in the Knesset to 61 of 120 seats.
The fallout has opened up a rift within the government, as Mr. Netanyahu fends off calls from coalition partners for a harsher response to months of conflict with Hamas and other militant groups in the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Bennett was refused the job in his meeting with the prime minister, according to those close to him. He joins other members of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, including Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon of the Kulanu Party and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri of the Shas party, in backing moves for early elections.
Mr. Netanyahu, who has assumed the defense minister’s portfolio, spent Friday trying to persuade the heads of the other parties in his government not to go to a snap vote. Neither Mr. Netanyahu nor his right-wing coalition partners want to be seen as taking down Israel’s most right-wing government, analysts said.
A coalition meeting on Sunday is emerging as critical in determining the fate of Mr. Netanyahu’s government. The prime minister’s partners face the choice of pressing for elections early next year or trying to keep the coalition together for as long as possible.
Under Israeli law, elections are required by November 2019. Snap elections could be called if the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, passes a special law to invoke an early vote. Alternatively, Mr. Netanyahu has the power to dissolve the Knesset.
The calling of snap elections then triggers a 60- to 90-day process that includes primary contests among Israel’s major parties. As a result, if a snap election is called in the coming days, the soonest elections would happen would be late February.
Mr. Netanyahu on Friday pointed to a 1992 leadership change as a cautionary tale, when Yitzhak Rabin of Labor unseated Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir, after Mr. Shamir’s government collapsed. Mr. Rabin then stewarded the launch of the Oslo peace process, which has always been unpopular with Israel’s right wing.
“When they think there are going to be elections, they try to differentiate themselves from each other, they try to blame each other,” said Gideon Rahat, a political-science professor at Hebrew University.
Mr. Netanyahu would be the favorite in a snap election, as he currently isn’t seen as having any serious challengers. However, he has been trying to push back any possible election because his poll numbers have slipped since he struck an Egypt-brokered cease-fire with Hamas this week.
The cease-fire was negotiated after Hamas fired a record nearly 500 projectiles into Israel in response to a botched Israeli intelligence-gathering mission in Gaza that led to the deaths of seven Palestinian militants and an Israeli military officer.
A poll by Israel Television News company released Wednesday found that 74% of the Israeli public is dissatisfied with Mr. Netanyahu’s response to the most recent confrontation with Hamas in Gaza, and that his Likud party would win only 29 seats if the election were held now. A poll last month put that figure at 32. His party currently holds 30 seats.
Throughout the week, residents from the border regions staged demonstrations in Sderot and other cities, blocking roadways and burning tires. In Tel Aviv on Thursday, hundreds of residents from towns near Gaza gathered in front of the Ministry of Defense building in Tel Aviv to protest the cease-fire with Hamas under the banner “the south will not keep silent.”
Write to Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com
Bagikan Berita Ini
