Next government will be 'copy-paste of this one,' PM ‎says ‎

The next government will be very similar in its ‎composition to the current one, Prime Minister ‎Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. ‎

Speaking at a meeting of the coalition faction ‎heads, Netanyahu said he plans to "copy-paste this ‎coalition for the next government." ‎

Sources close to the prime minister said the ‎statement all but debunked a recent assessment saying ‎that Netanyahu's next government will exclude ‎ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism ‎in favor of Yesh Atid, or exclude Habayit Hayehudi, ‎as party leader Naftali Bennett has hinted recently.‎

During the meeting, Netanyahu also asked for the support of ‎‎coalition heads for a bid to lower the ‎‎electoral threshold ‎by half a percentage point to ensure that all the parties in the right-religious ‎bloc pass it in the elections. ‎

In 2015, the electoral threshold was set at 3.25%, ‎revised from 2% in 2014.‎

Netanyahu's associates said that several coalition ‎factions are in danger of not passing the threshold and being excluded from the ‎next Knesset, and the prime minister wants to ensure that he can include them in his ‎future coalition.‎

Recent polls predict that Likud is likely to win at ‎least 30 Knesset seats in the next general election, due Nov. 5, 2019.‎

Last month, Netanyahu said Likud aims to win 40 ‎Knesset mandates.‎

The polls project Yesh Atid would win 19 seats, ‎followed by Zionist Union (15), the Joint Arab List ‎‎(12), Habayit Hayehudi (8), Yisrael Beytenu, United ‎Torah Judaism and Kulanu (7 seats each), and Meretz ‎and Shas (5 seats each).‎

Speaking about the issue Sunday, Netanyahu acknowledged that lowering the electoral ‎threshold could potentially prompt a split in ‎Habayit Hayehudi or United Torah Judaism and ‎that such splits would undermine a future ‎coalition's stability. ‎

Shas leader Aryeh Deri said Sunday that his party ‎would oppose lowering the electoral threshold as it ‎actually wants to see it rise. ‎

Bennett and United Torah Judaism Chairman Yakov ‎Litzman echoed Deri's sentiment.‎

A Kulanu official said the party, headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, ‎‎would also oppose ‎lowering the electoral threshold.

‎Kulanu "has no interest in backing such a move. We're ‎nowhere near [failing to pass] the electoral ‎threshold and we have no interest in propping up ‎parties that are on the brink,‎" the official said.

Speaking later at the weekly cabinet meeting, ‎Netanyahu focused on the coming anniversary of the ‎‎1973 Yom Kippur War.‎

‎"This week we will mark, in synagogues and ‎cemeteries, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our ‎people, and the day on which, 45 years ago, we ‎absorbed a bloody attack that cost us thousands of ‎victims.‎

‎"We must do everything to prevent war. Its victims ‎destroy the lives of families and they are a gaping ‎wound in the heart of the nation. However, if war is ‎forced upon us, we must do everything to win with ‎minimal losses," he said.‎

‎"Forty-five years ago, intelligence erred by holding ‎to a mistaken assessment regarding the war ‎intentions of Egypt and Syria. When these intentions ‎became clear beyond all doubt, and when the danger ‎was on our very doorstep, the political leadership ‎made a grievous mistake by not allowing a pre-emptive strike. We will never repeat this mistake.‎

‎"At the same time, Israel is constantly working to ‎prevent our enemies from arming themselves with ‎advanced weaponry. Our red lines are as sharp as ‎ever and our determination to enforce them is ‎stronger than ever." ‎