Netanyahu Willing to Support Death Penalty for Terrorists

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a swearing-in ceremony
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty

The Times of Israel reports: For weeks, the governing coalition has appeared to be unwittingly sidling toward early elections.

The coalition wobbled three weeks ago, with health minister Yaakov Litzman’s resignation over Shabbat train maintenance. It was rattled by an adamant refusal by the Kulanu party to support the so-called “recommendations” bill should it apply to investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to which the prime minister eventually gave in.

Deepening the tensions, Shas leader Aryeh Deri was rumored to threaten resignation unless his Shabbat bill went ahead, amid staunch opposition by Yisrael’s Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman and several other coalition MKs. Liberman has made plain he also opposes the revised so-called Jewish state bill — long sought by Netanyahu and his Likud party as well as the Jewish Home party — as it would compromise minority rights and turn Israel into a “halachic [Jewish law] state.”

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