Netanyahu's Appointee Says New Coalition Unlikely to Last Full Term

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's newly formed coalition is unlikely to survive the full four-year term, its newly appointed coalition whip said on Saturday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Hanegbi, who is also expected to take up the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee chairmanship, added that more parties need to join in for Netanyahu's coalition to go the distance.

"It will be very difficult to maintain this coalition for the full four-and-a-half year term, I think everyone understands that," Tzachi Hanegbi told the Arutz 2 television station.

The member of Netanyahu's Likud Party caused a stir at Thursday's swearing-in ceremony, when he issued a press statement denying having immediately having accepted the prime minister's appointment.

Instead, Hanegbi said he hoped to be appointed to a ministerial position, but begrudgingly accepted Netanyahu's appointment.

"He told me the obvious — he didn't have anyone to serve as coalition whip and FADC chairman," the previous parliament's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying.

On May 7, Netanyahu was able to form a 61-member coalition of right-wing and religious parties, barely clinching a one-and-a-half month deadline on inter-party negotiations after the March 18 elections.

Netanyahu's slim majority in the 120-seat Knesset is expected to increase the Israeli prime minister's dependency on colleagues across the aisle.