Blue & White leader Benny Gantz on Monday urged center-left parties to unite in a bid to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming March 2021 elections, saying he was "ready to sacrifice a lot" to initiate such a move.
Gantz's statement comes as Israel prepares for a fourth election round in just under two years after its emergency unity government failed to reach an agreement over the state budget in December - leading to its automatic dissolution.
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Blue & White leader Benny Gantz calls for unity among the center-left
(Photo: Elad Malka)
“I shook the hand of this man whom I pledged to replace, I shook the hand of a serial promise-breaker,” the former military chief said in a televised address to the nation.
“I shook it because the State of Israel is at war and I am foremost its soldier. I was wrong. While a real and lethal pandemic is raging and threatening the lives of all of us, [Netanyahu] continued to divide and incite because it serves his personal interest and so he can escape his day in court."
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Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum
(Photo: Knesset PR)
“We cannot allow him to disperse us into fragments of parties - there is great danger that the opportunity will pass if we remain scattered across so many factions.”
Following his speech, opposition leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party released a laconic statement, saying “we will make every effort toward mergers that will lead to a sane and liberal government that will change the country.”
Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman, however, dismissed Gantz’s offer, saying that “we already had an opportunity to replace [Netanyahu] but you chose to become a reserve prime minister. The only thing you can do now for the country is to announce you are not running for Knesset.”
Republished with permission from i24NEWS