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December 11, 1998/ 22 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 12
Netanyahu delays vote on early elections
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to give himself a reprieve by delaying a Knesset vote that threatened to topple his government this week. The reprieve came with the help of one of his coalition members, the fervently Orthodox United Torah Judaism bloc, which requested that a Knesset vote on a bill calling for early elections be considered a no-confidence motion.
Under Knesset rules, the group's request put off Monday's Knesset vote by at least one week. But the Labor Party, which submitted the bill calling for new elections, agreed to a delay of an additional week in order to avoid holding the vote during President Clinton's planned visit to the region next week.
"It doesn't matter when the vote is held, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's days are numbered as head of the government," said Labor Knesset member Haim Ramon, who submitted the bill. A majority of legislators appeared ready to support the bill before Netanyahu managed to engineer the postponement.
Among those supporting early elections was former Foreign Minister David Levy. The last-minute efforts by Netanyahu to secure a postponement came after the premier failed to get Levy and his Gesher Party to rejoin the governing coalition. Making a statement on Israel Radio, Levy described his discussions with the premier as a "sham."
Netanyahu accused the opposition of adopting a divide-and-conquer mentality for the sole purpose of making a bid for power.
Hard-line members of Netanyahu's coalition, opposed to the further West Bank redeployments the government agreed to under the Wye accords, said they would vote with the opposition to dissolve the Knesset and force national elections. These threats presented a serious challenge to Netanyahu's coalition, which has a razor-thin majority of 61-59 in the Knesset.
JTA correspondent Matthew Dorf in Washington contributed to this report.
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