Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday issued a stern warning to the coalition partners, saying that without a long-term solution to stabilize the government, early elections will be called.
The coalition crisis was sparked by Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism's threat to stall the vote on the state budget unless their amendment to Israel's Defense Service Law, seeking to legally anchor exemptions afforded to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, is passed.
Shas, the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party, has voiced support for the controversial legislation.
The issue, which has dogged Israeli politics for years, revolves around Israel's mandatory military draft, which many in the ultra-Orthodox community believe should be secondary to Torah study. Secular Israelis, however, are opposed to shouldering the burden without the contribution of a substantial sector in Israeli society.
Netanyahu has instructed his chief of staff, Yoav Horowitz, and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who are leading the negotiations on his behalf, to tell the heads of the coalition factions that they "need to compromise; I want to find a solution – not just put on a Band-Aid that will fall off in a month's time and then we will have another coalition crisis all over again. We need a long-term solution that would let the government serve out the remainder of its term until elections in 2019."
A senior official with Netanyahu's entourage to the United States dispelled the notion that the prime minister was trying to use the crisis as a trigger early elections.
"We are genuinely not interested in moving up the elections, despite the flattering poll numbers. In elections, one knows how they start, but there is no way of telling how you emerge from them," the official said.
According to officials close to the prime minister, the solution to the coalition crisis lies with United Torah Judaism head Yakov Litzman, saying he must give the government more time to pass the conscription bill.
"The timetable he [Litzman] has presented is unrealistic," Netanyahu reportedly told his associates, saying he hopes that the other coalition partners would prefer compromise over going to the polls.
According to one official, Netanyahu believes Shas leader Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni want to find a solution, as does Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who opposes the bill.
Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon has warned in recent days that he would exit the coalition unless the state budget is presented to a vote on March 15 as planned.
"I cannot serve as finance minister unless the budget passes before the Knesset goes on recess. The budget has nothing to do with the military, and there is no point in making it contingent on passing that bill," Kahlon said on Tuesday.
He further warned that if the vote on the budget bill is postponed, funds earmarked for social programs might not get appropriated.
"Those who are most vulnerable will be hurt the most [by not passing the budget], and they couldn't care less about the conscription bill," he said.
Meanwhile, Gafni, who heads the Knesset Finance Committee, said his party will not back down. "So what if we don't have a finance minister on Passover? The budget will not pass if it comes up to a vote on Sunday," he warned, although later he said this quote had been taken out of context.
Coalition insiders said Tuesday that given the haredi parties' position on the legislation, that crisis will not be resolved before Netanyahu returns to Israel later this week.
