Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu has given Labor leader Ehud Barak until next week to persuade his party's MKs to join the next coalition before he gives up on them and finalizes a narrow government of right-wing parties, Netanyahu's associates said Tuesday.
Netanyahu and Barak will meet as early as Thursday, for a third time since coalition talks began, to discuss the possibility of Labor joining the coalition and contingency plans if Barak cannot get his party to join.
The Labor central committee is expected to meet next week to decide the party's fate. Barak's rivals in Labor have warned him that if he asks the committee to approve joining the next government, the committee will initiate a primary to topple him instead.
