JERUSALEM —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies on Monday worked furiously to keep opposition parties from forming a government that would displace him from Israel’s top political job for the first time in more than 12 years.
Netanyahu supporters slammed right-wing parties planning to join the broad-based coalition as “traitors,” picketed their homes and issued threats that led police to provide additional security to at least two of the targeted politicians.
The pressure came as members of the coalition finalized their agreement to form a power-sharing government that would include former Netanyahu allies, centrists and liberals, and even the indirect support of an Arab-Islamist party. The arrangement, which could come up for a vote by the full parliament within the week, would potentially end more than two years of political stalemate in which no faction has been able to secure a governing majority after four inconclusive elections.
* Israeli opposition poised to unseat him
* Netanyahu has been prime minister for past 12 years
* Last lost premiership in 1999