Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at a government meeting March 29 after having met with Republican leader of the US Senate Mitch McConnell, who was visiting Israel. The long-standing friendship between the two, and Netanyahu’s clear victory in the March 17 elections, made the get-together especially warm and friendly. On the table was the emerging agreement in Switzerland between Iran and the six world powers, an agreement that seemed on that morning more imminent than ever before.
In between the McConnell tete-a-tete and the government meeting, Netanyahu managed to carry out a round of briefings with his representatives to the coalition negotiations. Netanyahu’s efforts to consolidate a coalition have been foundering ever since the publicized confrontation with designated Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of the Kulanu Party, regarding Kahlon’s authorities in the future government.
