Gantz ready to serve under Netanyahu – report

MARCH 19, 2020 18:36

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is prepared for the first time to enter a government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even though it would mean breaking up Blue and White, Channel 12 reported on Thursday night.

According to the report, Gantz has decided to accept an offer in which Netanyahu would go first in a rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Yesh Atid leaders Yair Lapid and Ofer Shelah as well as MK Moshe Ya’alon of the Telem party have made clear that they would not enter a coalition in which Netanyahu served as prime minister. Shelah called on Gantz to stop coalition talks with Likud on Thursday.

President Reuven Rivlin spoke to Gantz, Lapid and Likud negotiating team head Yariv Levin on Thursday and received an update on the progress of coalition talks between the two parties.

Rivlin heard about the challenges facing the talks. He urged both sides to continue negotiating and to reach an agreement as soon as possible and volunteered his services as a mediator.

Rivlin warned both parties not to make the Knesset “a hostage” to the ongoing talks.

“Continue the discourse between you while ensuring that the Knesset can function properly,” Rivlin said. “It is important to the citizens of Israel for the Knesset to be open, especially in a time of crisis.”

The Likud sent Blue and White a new offer on Thursday, in an effort to end the stalemate over the makeup of Knesset committees.

Likud faction chairman Miki Zohar sent the offer a day after Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein refused to convene the Knesset plenum because no agreement on the committees had been reached.

According to the offer, there would be four committees, including three headed by Blue and White MKs. They would head the Arrangements Committee, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and a special new committee on the coronavirus. The Finance Committee would continue to be led by Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism).

Each committee would have a five-four advantage for Blue and White’s Center-Left political bloc over the Likud’s Center-Right bloc, except for the Arrangements Committee, which would be even.

Another option Zohar gave Blue and White was that Blue and White would also have a 5-4 advantage in the Arrangements Committee. But there would be no political legislation until a government is formed.

“We offered Blue and White a significant compromise,” Zohar said. “Now everyone will be able to tell who really wants to act on behalf of the citizens as a whole. They will know who is in favor of democracy and who is against it and just wants to use the Knesset for their personal political, vengeful needs that do not interest the public in this complex and dangerous time.”

Blue and White responded on Thursday evening that, “Zohar’s offer is unacceptable to us.”