On the one hand, Likud denied making a final decision on going to elections. On the other, it ordered all MKs to report to the Knesset on Monday to vote to hold an election.

The headlines are dramatic. Another election is on the way! Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can’t form a majority coalition!

Keep in mind, though, that we still have some time – not much – before we know if that is really true.

Throughout Sunday, Likud played both sides of the reports.

On the one hand, the party denied making a final decision of going to elections.

On the other, it made steps in that direction, ordering all MKs to report to the Knesset on Monday for a vote to hold an election and calling a meeting of the Likud secretariat to cancel the need for new primaries, since they already held a vote earlier this year. Party insiders leaked the contents of a Likud ministers’ meeting in which Netanyahu said he wants to add Kulanu MKs to the list for the next Knesset. Netanyahu’s spokesman Yonatan Urich tweeted a thinly veiled threat to Yisrael Beytenu: “For my next trick, I will need NIS 10 million for ads targeting Russian-speakers.” Continue reading