Netanyahu in Israel says it is necessary to avoid early elections

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that he wants his government to fulfill its mandate, which would prompt a coalition partner to call early elections.

Netanyahu has faced calls from its coalition members for early elections after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned on Wednesday.

Lieberman resigned for what he described as too soft a policy of the government, which aimed at a resurgence of cross-border violence against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, leaving the government a tiny majority.

Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who heads the centrist Kulanu party, was the first coalition partner to call for early elections after meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday.

Kahlon's calls were echoed by Aryeh Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, and members of the Jewish nationalist home, whose leader, Naftali Bennett, asked Lieberman to succeed as chief of defense, but Netanyahu refused on Friday.

Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud, said he would meet Kahlon on Sunday "in an ultimate attempt to convince him not to overthrow the government."

"If the Kulanu faction does not overthrow the government, there is a government," Netanyahu said on Twitter. "All members of Likud want to continue serving the country for another whole year until the end of the term in November 2019."

The loss of the Lieberman Israel Beitenu faction leaves Netanyahu with control of only 61 out of 120 seats in parliament. Each of the remaining government factions now has the power to effectively dissolve the coalition.

Political analysts in Israel see the early elections as a fact, Netanyahu and ministers seeking to blame the fall of the government so as not to lose the favor of their right-wing voters.

Netanyahu is under investigation in a series of corruption cases, and he has been speculated that he could carry the ballot for a renewed warrant while the Attorney General of Israel decides to indict him or no.

Both Lieberman and Bennett are competing with Netanyahu's Likud for right-wing voters and have spoken out in favor of harsh Israeli military action against mainstream Hamas Islamists in Gaza.

A poll released Wednesday by the Israeli newspaper Hadashot on Israeli television showed that the Likud lost a siege of 30 to 29 after months of polls that showed it was gaining power. Only 17% of respondents were satisfied with Netanyahu's policy in Gaza.