Head of Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman has said that talks aimed at having him join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have reached an impasse due to disagreement over pension reforms for Jewish migrates from the former Soviet Union, Arab48 reported yesterday.
“We have reached a dead end,” Lieberman said during the inauguration of the summer session of the Knesset. “”We compromised on issues of religion and state and on death sentence to terrorists, but we will not compromise on two basic issues: the defence portfolio, and the pension reform.”
Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said: “The proposal that the finance ministry presented today to Yisrael Beiteinu is very fair. It does not discriminate against people or provide for special or sectoral funds. When one sector receives funding and another does not, gaps open up, and we will not allow for that to happen.”
Lieberman said: “This is a reform for everyone, not just for Russian immigrants as it is presented, but a reform intended to correct distortions and help the least well-off sections of society. Unfortunately, the proposals we have received from the Ministry of Finance are not such as we can accept.”
Early on Monday, Netanyahu called for a trilateral meeting with Lieberman and Kahlon to discuss the issue. Israeli news website Walla reported that they did not reach an understanding.