Moshe Kahlon
Moshe KahlonFlash 90

Former Likud Minister Moshe Kahlon held a meeting of his new party on Thursday, in preparation for upcoming elections in the Knesset which may come sooner than expected.

Kahlon, who officially left the Likud last month so as to form the new party, held the meeting with 350 party activists in a Netanya hotel closed to the media. 

The current leadership is merely chasing headlines according to the former minister, and is ignoring the need for reforms in health care, housing and education.

The Knesset list of his as yet unnamed party will represent most of the public sectors according to Kahlon, reports Kol Yisrael.

"There is not one person here who does not want reform of the diplomatic situation and our relations with the world," Kahlon said. "There is no one here who does not want social reform."

Kahlon's maneuvering comes as reports on Thursday night indicated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is planning to dissolve the coalition and call early elections, given the high tensions in the government that have reached a peak around the Jewish State Law.

Senior Likud sources also revealed on Thursday that while Netanyahu doesn't want early elections, "it's impossible to continue in a situation where coalition members act like opposition members. They disparage the government they are members of and level ultimatums. It's impossible to manage a country this way."

While Netanyahu has reportedly been chasing a union with hareidi parties to replace the coalition, with the hareidi parties anticipated to give an answer on their support after the weekend, Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri is reportedly throwing his weight behind Kahlon.

As for what Kahlon's new party would look like, the former minister hinted to its stance in April when he complained that the "extreme right" had taken over Likud, and commented that he missed the "old Likud" he said had focused on social issues