Ever since the evening of March 15, the parliamentary coalition in Israel has been in a crisis mood over bitter exchanges between the entourage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon's people. And what happened at the government meeting March 16 did not reconcile this crisis atmosphere, but made it worse. Adding fuel to the fire, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri delivered a warning to the prime minister and the squabbling ministers, saying, “I’m not going to stay in a government that thrives on malfunctioning and on destroying one another. If you don’t all come to your senses, it’s better to hold an election.”

Kahlon, who instigated the crisis with Netanyahu, knew the crisis would not lead to the dissolution of the government and would end shortly. While Deri also knew this, he wanted to situate himself as a central figure in the events.

Not one member of the coalition wants to dissolve it right now and move to an election. On the other hand, everyone in the coalition is preparing for the moment when Netanyahu’s fourth government falls apart and an official election campaign starts, and working on creating platforms for it.

When the squabbling started March 15, the coalition was holding a team-building day. But the day ended with raised voices after Netanyahu, in his evening speech, called on Kahlon to push back the launch of the new public broadcasting corporation, scheduled to replace the dysfunctioning Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). When Netanyahu spoke, Kahlon had already left the Ramada Hotel in Hadera, where the event was held; his staff briefed him on the speech. Kahlon was shocked. Netanyahu had taken Kahlon by surprise, and he felt the prime minister was making him into the punching bag for the IBA, whose employees are trying to prevent the closing of their workplace, as Netanyahu is made out to be their protector. This angered Kahlon, since he was not part of Netanyahu's initiative to close the IBA in the first place.