Netanyahu: There will be no early elections

Responding to a threat from the opposition to dissolve the current government, Netanyahu said that his coalition remains solid and there will be no early elections.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum via satellite on Sunday, said his coalition is nowhere near collapsing and that elections will not be held anytime soon.

“The coalition is not going anywhere,” Netanyahu said, in response to a question from the audience about the likelihood of new elections.

Earlier in the day, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid announced his intention to present a bill Wednesday to dissolve the current government.

“Every Sunday, we have a meeting of the heads of the coalition parties and we address the issues that we face, the opportunities and the obstacles, and we get on with it,” said Netanyahu.

“I can report to you from the meeting a few hours ago; that’s exactly what happened today.”

The meeting referenced by Netanyahu revolved around stark divisions among coalition members over the proposed Regulation Bill, which in its original form would retroactively legalize Amona and other outposts in Judea and Samaria that had never received approval from Israel’s Civil Administration.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his center-right Kulanu party have demanded the removal of Clause 7 in the bill, referencing outposts such as Amona, which the Supreme Court had already ruled to have been illegally built on private Palestinian property.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett and his Jewish Home party have insisted that Clause 7 remain in the final version of the legislation. Pundits have suggested that the bitter disagreements over the proposed bill could be divisive enough to rip at the seams of the coalition, causing it to tear apart.

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News