{"id":33316,"date":"2017-03-20T10:01:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T10:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/israeli-coalition-crisis-raises-threat-of-snap\/"},"modified":"2017-03-20T10:01:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T10:01:47","slug":"israeli-coalition-crisis-raises-threat-of-snap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/israeli-coalition-crisis-raises-threat-of-snap\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli coalition crisis raises threat of snap polls"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Israeli Prime Minister raises possibility of snap elections following dispute over a new national broadcasting service.}<\/p>\n

Israel’s prime minister backed out of an agreement to establish a new broadcasting authority on Sunday, creating a coalition crisis with one of his key partners that could lead to early elections.<\/p>\n

The conflict centres on the fate of the struggling state-run Israel Broadcasting Authority. Netanyahu initially ordered it shut down and replaced with a new corporation, only to reverse course once the emerging personnel of the new body did not seem as favourable as his administration had hoped.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that his coalition partners are required to side with his ruling Likud party regarding all media regulation matters. <\/p>\n

But Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, head of the centrist Kulanu party, said the corporation would start broadcasting next month as planned.<\/p>\n

The crisis has sparked speculation that the coalition could fall apart, and new elections called.<\/p>\n

Before departing on a weeklong visit to China, Netanyahu said Kahlon’s insistence was “unacceptable” and there was no need for the new corporation to be established when the current authority could be reformed.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has long tried to curb his many detractors in the media, which he considers biased against him.<\/p>\n

The prime minister recently confirmed for the first time that he called an early election in 2015 to block legislation aimed at curtailing the distribution of Israel Hayom, a free daily financed by billionaire backer Sheldon Adelson that largely serves as his mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

This time, though, speculation is rife that Netanyahu may be trying to use a potential election to deflect the numerous police investigations into his alleged corruption scandals.<\/p>\n

Several Netanyahu associates have threatened that he will call an election if Kahlon does not back down from his demands. Others, however, say it’s a minor scuffle that should not unravel the government.<\/p>\n

Several ministers and Likud MPs are known to be against a snap election, and it is unlikely that rightwing and ultra-Orthodox parties would want to join a more centrist government.<\/p>\n

Transport and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said he opposed fresh elections and believed a compromise could be found.<\/p>\n

“I think that only two years after the elections, it’s not the time to go to new elections,” Katz, a senior member of Netanyahu’s Likud who aspires to one day replace the prime minister, told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n

“It’s against the interests of the Israelis, of the country, and also against the interests of the Likud… We’ll not have a better coalition after the elections.”<\/p>\n

Netanyahu’s current coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, includes 67 out of parliament’s 120 members. Kahlon’s Kulanu has 10 seats, and the current coalition would not survive without him.<\/p>\n

The government is dominated by hardliners who support an increase in settlement construction across the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. <\/p>\n

But even if the coalition collapses it does not necessarily mean there will be new elections, which are currently slated for late 2019.<\/p>\n

The country’s ceremonial president could appoint someone else to try and build a new coalition, a scenario opposition chief Isaac Herzog says he has already discussed with Kahlon.<\/p>\n

\"Israeli<\/figure>\n

Source:Al Jazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Israeli Prime Minister raises possibility of snap elections following dispute over a new national broadcasting service.} Israel’s prime minister backed out of an agreement to establish a new broadcasting authority on Sunday, creating a coalition crisis with one of his key partners that could lead to early elections. The conflict centres on the fate of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[101],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-33316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-internationl","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33316"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=33316"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=33316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}