Netanyahu Survives Vote of No-Confidence With Tie

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote with a tie Monday, leaving his government still teetering in precarious balance between rival sides in a dispute over a West Bank troop withdrawal.

Netanyahu’s former foreign minister, David Levy, voted with the opposition, as did four of the five members of Levy’s Gesher Party, cementing their break with the governing coalition after Levy resigned last week. The 54-54 tie in the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, fell short of the absolute majority of 61 needed to topple the government. There were two abstentions.

Netanyahu said he was satisfied.

“The opposition . . . didn’t get a majority, they didn’t topple the government, and they won’t topple the government,” he said.

However, the tie underscored Netanyahu’s extremely difficult political situation eight days before he is due in Washington to meet President Clinton, who expects a concrete offer on Israel’s long-delayed West Bank troop pullback.

In his speech to the parliament, centrist lawmaker Yehuda Harel said his Third Way party’s continued support for Netanyahu was conditional on implementation of the pullback, promised in Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

But a group of more than 15 rightist legislators is threatening to bolt Netanyahu’s coalition if the pullback goes through.