A new general election is “closer than people think,” Housing Minister Zev Boim (Kadima) said Monday morning. He told Voice of Israel government radio that he is “very skeptical” that Kadima will join a coalition headed by Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu. Boim branded Netanyahu as “chained to extremists,” leaving no room for Kadima in the proposed coalition.
He explained that Livni agreed to meet Netanyahu again, despite her statements that no agreement was on the horizon, because “when you are invited to a meeting, you go.”
An alternative to a unity government would be a coalition of up to 65 Knesset Members from Israel Is Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu), Shas, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), Ichud Leumi (National Union) and Jewish Home. Boim implied that a narrow coalition would not last very long and that the public soon would go to the polls again.