Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu came under fire from within the government coalition during meetings with Likud ministers and coalition leaders on Sunday night to discuss the resignation of Foreign Minister David Levy, Israel radio reported on Monday.

Communications Minister Limor Livnat accused Netanyahu of "denigrating his ministers" , while Transport Minister Moshe Qatzav expressed regret that Netanyahu did not consult with other ministers, particularly regarding negotiations over the budget.

Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon said the government "must learn a lesson in leadership from recent developments" .

Defence Minister Yitzhaq Mordekhay and Tourism Minister Moshe Qatzav proposed postponing Monday's parliamentary vote on the 1998 budget, while Science Minister Mikhael Eytan said that new elections should be called if it became clear that the government did not have a majority.

However, most of those attending Sunday night's meeting said they believed that the coalition did have a slim majority and that the budget would be passed by parliament on Monday afternoon, the radio reported.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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