Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has reached coalition agreements with the majority of his partner factions, but is still facing difficulties in its negotiations with the United Torah Judaism party.
Kan News reported that a conversation between Netanyahu and MK Moshe Gafni devolved into shouting. During the conversation, the Likud chairman slammed Gafni, saying: "Because of you, we haven't formed a government."
Likud officials have demanded that UTJ sign the agreement on the division of positions in order to present the president with progress in the negotiations.
Gafni told Netanyahu: "I will not sign any agreement until an agreement is reached on the fundamental issues."
Gafni refused to sign an agreement or an annex to the agreement, and offered to send a letter to Netanyahu that would be presented to the president, according to which UTJ accepted the offer for the positions and approves the offer that was made to them.
UTJ and the Likud still have a dispute over the Draft Law, which is one of the most important issues for UTJ.
Gafni requested that the demands regarding the law not be raised in detail in the coalition agreement, in order not to put pressure on the Likud, similar to how the demands Noam chairman Avi Maoz had regarding the education authorities were handled.. On the other hand, UTJ chairman MK Yitzhak Goldknopf wants the outline of the law and the mechanism that exempts yeshiva students from conscription to be detailed in full.