United Torah Judaism (UTJ) lawyers will be signing preliminary understandings with representatives of Likud on entering a Likud-led coalition Tuesday, according to a UTJ source quoted by The Jerusalem Post. The signing will take place at the Jerusalem office of attorney Yaakov Neeman, who heads the Likud negotiation team.
If UTJ supports Likud, Binyamin Netanyahu will have the support of 50 MKs – including his faction and all four religious parties (11 from Shas, 4 from Ichud Leumi (National Union), 3 from The Jewish Home and 5 from UTJ) – going into his meeting with President Shimon Peres on Wednesday night. The president will decide whom to entrust with assembling a new government coalition.
Kadima has only the support of its own 28 MKs, after both Labor and Meretz announced Monday that they would not support Kadima's leader Tzipi Livni because she is seeking a coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu (15 seats) and because she said she agreed with 90 percent of that party's demands.
A Likud spokeswoman said she couldn't confirm the report of the understandings with UTJ.
Outgoing Labor Minister Shalom Simchon said Tuesday on IDF Army Radio that Livni must “head honestly into the opposition” and be its leader. “She must stop the opportunistic processes,” he added, referring to Kadima’s contacts with Yisrael Beiteinu.
MK Stas Misezhnikov, who heads the Yisrael Beiteinu negotiating team, criticized Likud for failing to respond to his party’s list of demands and said that “courtesy requires” Likud to provide an answer. “Either Shas is tying them down or they do not know what to answer,” he said.