BICOM

Likud-Beitenu indicated yesterday that Yesh Atid would not sit in a government alongside ultra-Orthodox parties, further complicating Israel’s coalition negotiations.

Following talks between the Knesset’s two largest factions, David Shimron who heads the Likud-Beitenu negotiating team said that they “dedicated a large part of the meeting to clarifying Yesh Atid’s stance about ultra-Orthodox parties joining the government,” and that “the answer we got… was that essentially, to Yesh Atid, there is no place for ultra-Orthodox in the next government.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the Likud-Beitenu faction, has repeatedly expressed his intention to form as broad a coalition as possible, including ultra-Orthodox parties such as Shas, which has been a regular fixture in Israeli governments over the last two decades.

While denying that there is an outright rejection of the ultra-Orthodox parties, senior Yesh Atid MK Shai Piron said “we have a major dispute [with the ultra-Orthodox]” not only over the military draft, but “mainly over sovereignty and priorities in our country.” Meanwhile, Shimron said that he would be conducting another meeting today with Jewish Home, which has formed a pact with Yesh Atid whereby neither will enter the coalition without the other. In an indication that Likud-Beitenu is still looking to drive a wedge in this alliance, Shimron said that he will today ask Jewish Home “if they reject [having] ultra-Orthodox parties in the government,” a position they’re unlikely to take.

However, Maariv this morning suggests an alternative development, with Likud-Beitenu considering amending its coalition agreement with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Party, in an attempt to appease Yesh Atid and Jewish Home, who have both expressed opposition to the deal. Either way, Netanyahu seems certain to ask President Peres over the weekend for an extension on forming a new government.