By GIL HOFFMANYisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein must invite party leaders to a meeting and not let them leave the room until they reach an agreement that would prevent a third election, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said Monday.Speaking at a meeting of his faction in the Knesset, Liberman said that only Rivlin and Edelstein are statesmanlike figures whose pressure to form a new government by the December 11 deadline could be effective.Liberman said that holding another election is unnecessary and could still be prevented.“They should sit with party leaders until white smoke comes out,” Liberman said, referring to the process of choosing a new pope in the Vatican.Liberman urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to seek immunity from prosecution. He said that if Netanyahu took such a step, it would harm the public’s trust in the political system.“I hope that in the end of the process, Netanyahu will be found innocent and as clean as snow, but that can only be done in the courts.”Without Yisrael Beytenu’s votes, Netanyahu is not expected to be able to obtain a majority for immunity. Such decisions are made in the Knesset House Committee, a body that tends to be formed only once a coalition is formed – but a solution is being worked on for that technical problem.
