Blue & White chairman Benny Gantz said Tuesday Israel in recent months stood “before the greatest crisis to health, economy and society in recent decades” while it faced its greatest political crisis.
“Some wanted to continue to move toward more and more elections and perhaps score political points… I and my colleagues could not stand by,” he said.
“We chose to safeguard democracy and fight coronavirus and its consequences. We had to pull up our sleeves, leave our comfort zone of statements,” he said.
“We thought it was better to win against coronavirus than to win on social media… We chose a national cause over a party cause.”
Of criticism of the size of the emerging government, the largest in Israeli history, Gantz said: “I would have preferred a slimmer government… and at least as far as I’m concerned I will do my best to minimize the number of positions in my bloc.”