Israeli minister: Parties trying to keep coalition afloat

By ILAN BEN ZION
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — A key partner in Israel’s governing coalition says that all the factions are working to try and keep the fragile coalition afloat, less than a year after it was sworn into office. The coalition has come under threat by internal squabbles and escalating violence with the Palestinians. Labor party leader Merav Michaeli said on Monday that eight coalition party chiefs are “working together in order to find every way to keep this government.” A member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s party split from the 61-seat governing coalition earlier this month, leaving the government without a majority in parliament, and raising the possibility of yet another national election.