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'PM to offer FM budget in exchange for conversion bill'

Aides close to prime minister say Netanyahu to offer Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman budgetary compromise to prevent approval of bill that would grant Rabbinate monopoly on conversion

"The prime minister doesn't want to break the rules and cause Lieberman to leave the government at this time," a Likud official close to Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night, amidst the crisis between the prime minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. According to the source, Netanyahu is expected to offer Lieberman a compromise in the spirit of "budget in exchange for blocking the approval of the conversion law."

 

The foreign minister is expected to call a press conference at the start of the Yisrael Beiteinu faction's meeting at 10:30 Monday. Despite the tension, officials in his party believe Lieberman will try to calm the political storm rather than ignite the crisis.

 

Tensions between the two began when Lieberman was kept in the dark about a meeting between Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and a Turkish minister. Later, Yisrael Beiteinu promoted the conversion bill which would give the Chief Rabbinate a monopoly on conversions to Judaism, and Netanyahu, who is under pressure from US Jews, declared on Sunday that he is against the bill.

 

Knesset Member David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), who is behind the bill, has delayed bringing the bill for a vote in the Knesset plenum in the meantime, after learning he will not get a majority of votes. While the Shas party is siding with Lieberman, and has warned of a "disaster" if the bill is not approved, the Labor Party faction has announced that is also opposes the bill.

 

Surprise after Egypt visit

Adding to the tension between Netanyahu and Lieberman, the foreign minister appointed a temporary ambassador to the UN, and drew up a plan for a "second disengagement" from the Gaza Strip. Following these acts, Yisrael Beiteinu ministers were "overlooked" in deliberations on the State budget, and their ministries did not receive and additions.

 

On the backdrop of the crisis, Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Sunday, and the two discussed the delicate political situation. The prime minister's aides insist he had no knowledge of the meeting, and only heard about it after his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

 

Likud officials close to the prime minister said they believe Netanyahu "is determined to block the approval of the conversion bill, and with regards to the State budget and the budgets that Yisrael Beiteinu is requesting, he will work to meet their needs."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.19.10, 10:04
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