Kahlon says he won’t break up coalition

“Let the recommendations come. We won’t avoid a decision. But I say to you at the moment, in the law it says until the attorney-general [makes a decision] there’s nothing to deal with,” Kahlon said.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Moshe Kahlon (left) and Benjamin Netanyahu (right). (photo credit: REUTERS)
Moshe Kahlon (left) and Benjamin Netanyahu (right).
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon will stay in the current coalition even if the police recommend to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the close of investigations into alleged corruption, he said Saturday.
“I didn’t pass a budget this month... in order to break up the government next month,” Kahlon said on Meet the Press, two days after the cabinet authorized the 2019 state budget. “Anyone relying on me as a demolition contractor is fooling himself.”
“Let the recommendations come. We won’t avoid a decision. But I say to you at the moment, in the law it says until the attorney-general [makes a decision] there’s nothing to deal with,” Kahlon said.
However, Kahlon added: “If the attorney-general comes and declares an indictment, there is no doubt that Netanyahu himself has to go.”Legally, a prime minister does not have to resign unless he comes to the end of the appeals process and is convicted of a crime with moral turpitude, but an indictment would be likely to lead to political pressure to resign.