Coalition talks start with boycott again

Official coalition talks between Likud and Blue and White started on the wrong foot Friday morning when Blue and White negotiators refused to enter the room until the press left.

The Likud invited the media for a photo opportunity at Jerusalem’s Orient Hotel ahead of the talks but Blue and White complained that it had not been coordinated with them.

“We have nothing to be ashamed of in meetings with Blue and White,” Likud Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin said.

Asked whether they were ashamed of meeting with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman who called for talks without preconditions on Thursday, Elkin said that there was no reason to meet with him because he actually has many conditions “That would be a side show that would get in the way of progress,” Elkid said.

The Likud chief negotiator Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said “We want a broad unity government immediately. We want President Reuven Rivlin’s framework to be basis for talks.”

Elkin added that “This can be done quickly with goodwill. Every party who wants Jewish democratic state invited. Whoever says no brings third elections.”

Blue and White chief coalition negotiator Yoram Turbowicz told the Jerusalem Post that Likud wants to build a ceiling before the house’s foundations while his party wants to build foundations first.