This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Benjamin Netanyahu has played a last-minute gambit to persuade politicians to help him form a government, threatening to call fresh Israeli elections if deadlocked negotiations do not succeed.

The prime minister and his rightwing and religious allies won a general election just last month, but the leader is required to announce a new coalition by Wednesday, a deadline mandated by law. If he fails, the Israeli president may assign another legislator to attempt the task.

Talks stalled over disagreements between Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties and the former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman’s ultranationalist secular party, Yisrael Beiteinu. Netanyahu needs support from both for a majority government in the country’s parliament, the Knesset.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Avigdor Lieberman, whose resignation last year led to the end of Netanyahu’s fourth term and to early elections. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images

Lieberman has sought guarantees on a draft bill he championed that will force ultra-Orthodox religion students, who are largely exempt from conscription, to serve in the army. Ultra-Orthodox parties have vehemently opposed the legislation.

“I don’t think the country needs to be dragged to another election,” Netanyahu told his outgoing cabinet on Sunday, “but there might be someone who wants that.”

The US president, Donald Trump, a long-time backer of Netanyahu, added his public support on Monday for the Israeli leader. “Hoping things will work out with Israel’s coalition formation and Bibi and I can continue to make the alliance between America and Israel stronger than ever,” he wrote in a tweet, using a common shorthand nickname.

Netanyahu had presented both sides with a compromise, a deal Lieberman’s chief negotiator described as “fake”.

On Monday evening the Knesset passed the first of three votes for a motion tabled by Netanyahu’s Likud party that would restart a months-long election process. It was seen as an attempt to put pressure on Lieberman, who will want to avoid blame for delaying Israel’s next administration. The final vote is set for Wednesday, the same day of the deadline to form the government.

Israel has never held two elections in a year, and Netanyahu would remain as interim leader until a new government is formed.

The prime minister, too, is under added pressure as he faces potential indictments for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. He denies any wrongdoing.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Israelis protesting in Tel Aviv on Saturday against legislation that could exempt Netanyahu from prosecution. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Thousands protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against efforts by some of the prime minister’s political backers to seek his immunity from prosecution. They intend to pass a law in the next government that overrules court decisions, although Netanyahu has not publicly backed the plan.

If the 69-year-old former commander succeeds in forming a government he will be on track to become Israel’s longest-serving leader in July.

Government-forming negotiations have carried on close to the deadline in the past as parties seek political concessions in exchange for their support.

Netanyahu and Lieberman, a security hardliner, are both from Israel’s right wing but are only loosely aligned. It was Lieberman’s resignation last year that eventually led to the end of Netanyahu’s fourth term and to early elections. The defence minister had wanted a more aggressive Israeli policy in Gaza.