Minister Threatens to Quit Over Budget

Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign minister said he would resign in protest of the proposed 1998 budget, a rebellion that threatened to bring down the beleaguered prime minister’s teetering government. David Levy, the leading supporter of the peace process in Netanyahu’s fractious coalition, complained that the $58-billion budget did not address the growing problems of Israel’s poor. Without the support of Levy’s Gesher faction and other coalition rebels, Netanyahu’s support in the 120-member Knesset could drop below the threshold needed to govern. The budget vote was postponed until Sunday.