Senior officials in the Likud party say that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is seriously considering the possibility of forming a temporary coalition consisting of 60 MKs without Avigdor Liberman, in view of the many difficulties in the coalition negotiations between the Likud and Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, the Yediot Aharonot newspaper reports on Thursday.
Such a move can succeed only if Liberman abstains or is absent from the Knesset during the vote on the approval of the government. If Liberman decides to vote against, a majority will not be obtained to approve the government. However, the Likud believes that in such a scenario, Liberman will not object in practice so as not to be accused of having toppled a right-wing government.