Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the President’s Residence on Monday morning. At the end of the meeting, the president acceded to the prime minister�s request and granted him a further two weeks to form a government.

Rivlin tasked Netanyahu with building a coalition within 28 days of the April 9 elections. Though Netanyahu appeared close to finalizing deals as of Monday, recent national holidays and a spate of violence in Gaza have interrupted negotiations.

The prime minister�s Likud party and its Chareidi and nationalist allies won a 65-seat majority in Knesset.

It�s typical for a leader to request an extension and take advantage of the full 42 days provided by law to assemble a governing coalition. Under Israeli election rules, if Netanyahu fails to form a coalition after that time, Rivlin can task someone else to do so.

(YWN Israel Desk � Jerusalem/photo credit: Haim Zach, GPO)