In the video: Netanyahu: "The war will continue for many more months"30.12.23/GPO
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday evening that he would recommend postponing the date of local elections to the end of February. This is in contrast to the position of members of his faction, who oppose the move due to counter-pressure from incumbent mayors of the party, who preferred to hold elections early on January 30. Apart from them, most of the factions in the coalition, led by Religious Zionism, support and press to postpone the elections, and by saying this, Netanyahu aligns himself with them.
In response to Netanyahu's support for postponing the local elections, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote: "I welcome the announcement by the prime minister, who adopted our position to postpone the local elections, and call on all government ministers to approve the postponement of the elections tomorrow. Now is the time for war, not politics!"
The government held a preliminary discussion on the issue last week, in which no decision was made, and the IDF was asked to provide updated data on the number of reservists who will not be able to run in the elections. Over the weekend, data were provided to the government indicating that the IDF will not be able to release about 688 active reservists who are running in the elections, and that there are another 1,141 who could be released in high probability.
Earlier, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, who initially supported holding elections at the end of January, changed his position and agreed to the end of February.
The government is expected to make a decision on postponing the date of local elections at its weekly meeting tomorrow morning. The discussion comes against the backdrop of heavy pressure in the coalition and petitions to the High Court of Justice demanding that the elections be postponed so as not to harm candidates serving in the reserves.
The Center for Local Government said in response: "The local government is ready for local elections both on the current date of January 30 and in case of postponement to February 27. The elections are the necessary and necessary democratic process in order to maintain the continued functioning of the most stable government in the State of Israel - the local government."
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