President Trump offered his full-throated support for Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as the Israeli leader continues to struggle to piece together a coalition.
The impasse means the country is heading rapidly towards a second snap election and a continuing period of political instability.
The deadline for announcing a new coalition expires at midnight on Wednesday.
“Hoping things will work out with Israel’s coalition formation and Bibi and I can continue to make the alliance between America and Israel stronger than ever,” Trump posted on Twitter during his state visit to Japan, using the veteran leader’s nickname. “A lot more to do!”
Hoping things will work out with Israel’s coalition formation and Bibi and I can continue to make the alliance between America and Israel stronger than ever. A lot more to do!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019
Netanyahu — a close ally of Trump — appeared to have a clear course to government and a fifth term in office after the April 9 elections.
His Likud party won 35 of 120 seats, making him well-placed to secure a 65-55 majority in the highly fractured Parliament.
However, a row over drafting ultra-Orthodox men into the armed forces has broken apart his traditional coalition. His ultra-Orthodox allies are demanding exemptions remain in place, but that demand would cost him the five seats of Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, who is pushing a draft law that ends the exception.
The result is stalemate, and Israel’s Parliament has begun the process of drafting a bill to dissolve itself.
