Hardliners Threaten to Quit Israel Coalition, Citing Kerry ‘Pressure’

Jewish Home: Accepting Kerry Plan Would Mean We Withdraw

Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing hard for Israeli and Palestinian officials to accept his “framework” compromise to get peace talks moving forward again, with limited success.

Even the push itself isn’t sitting well with some folks, and today the Jewish Home Party has reiterated its threats to withdraw from Israel’s coalition government if Netanyahu accepts the proposal.

Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett insisted earlier last week that negotiating around the 1967 border was the problem, though in the past he has rejected peace deals in general.

If Jewish Home makes good on its threat to withdraw, it would effectively collapse the coalition, forcing early elections. In theory the Netanyahu government could survive with a new partner, like Labor, but with Likud hawks also opposing the Kerry proposal many have pledged to block any attempt to replace Bennett’s group.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.