Moshe Kahlon
Moshe KahlonFlash 90

In what could be a harbinger of trouble for the prospective government of Binyamin Netanyahu, potential coalition partner Moshe Kahlon canceled a meeting with the Prime Minister set for Thursday to discuss the participation of his Kulanu party in Netanyahu's government.

In a statement, Kulanu said that the cancellation was “due to the political activity that the Likud is engaging in on the tools we need to lower the cost of housing and deal with the high cost of living even before the negotiations between the parties begin,” referring to reports Wednesday that Netanyahu had promised the chairmanship of the Knesset Finance Committee to United Torah Judaism.

Kahlon has had his eye on that post as well, though Netanyahu has already promised to make Kahlon Finance Minister.

On Wednesday, Kahlon wrote on his Facebook page “I heard that instead of dealing with the housing crisis, someone has decided that playing politics with important positions is more important than dividing assignments based on social need. We have not discussed our participation in the government with anyone and we have not agreed to anything, and anything beyond that is political spin.”

The head of the Committee in the previous government was MK Nissan Slomiansky of Jewish Home, and the party, he said Wednesday, wants to retain this position in the next government.

Loss of the committee chairmanship, he said, would be “very problematic for communities in Judea and Samaria and to the institutions of Religious Zionism. We need to struggle to retain this position, only thus will we be able to ensure the financial health of schools, yeshivas, and community groups."