TV cites sources in Likud, Blue and White saying rivals are discussing idea of a prime ministerial rotation in which Netanyahu will serve for first year, but step aside if indicted
By TOI STAFF 11 November 2019, 10:16 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz at a memorial ceremony marking 24 years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in the Knesset on November 10, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz may be closing in on a coalition deal that would allow the formation of a government and prevent Israel from heading to its third election in under a year, Channel 12 reported on Monday.
Citing sources with knowledge of the negotiations between Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White party, the network said the two parties are now discussing the possibility, proposed by Likud, of a prime ministerial rotation in which Netanyahu will remain in office for a year before stepping aside in favor of Gantz.
Should Netanyahu go on trial for criminal charges during that first year, he will begin a leave of absence, according to the proposal. Gantz will then be prime minister, the report said. A power-sharing agreement was first floated by President Reuven Rivlin.
However, there are still reportedly two issues preventing a unity government. The first is the lack of a law that would require Netanyahu to step down with the opening of his trial, and the second is the issue of the legal immunity that the prime minister has sought as he battles the corruption allegations in three cases.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri on Monday night said he would ensure that Netanyahu would take the leave of absence if indicted. An announcement on criminal charges against Netanyahu is expected by the end of the year.
In a bid to encourage Gantz to form a unity government, the Shas party chief pledged to quit the government if Netanyahu does not take leave as promised, though it remained unclear whether Shas would be included in such a coalition. United Torah Judaism’s Yaakov Litzman offered a similar pledge.
Other reports on Monday signaled the talks remained deadlocked.
According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Gantz is actively considering forming a minority government with the support of the predominantly Arab Joint List. The broadcaster cited an unnamed source close to Gantz who stated that “Benny is beginning to realize that if the mandate [to form a government] ends, he may pay a price. If there is no choice, we will go to a minority government to take power.”
In a dramatic announcement Saturday night, Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman presented a challenge to both Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Gantz, saying that if they do not accept tough compromises in order to form a coalition together, he will back the other candidate and renege on his pledge to only support a national unity government.
“Gantz must accept the president’s plan, including a leave of absence, and Netanyahu should say goodbye to his ultra-Orthodox messianic bloc,” Liberman told Channel 12 news.
Liberman implied that if Netanyahu refused to separate from the 55-MK bloc of right-wing and religious parties, he could support, from the outside, a minority government led by Gantz. Such an arrangement would see the hawkish right-wing leader allied with the Arab lawmakers, whom he has long accused of “disloyalty” and “terror support.”
Last week, Likud and Blue and White issued a joint statement following the third round of negotiations since Rivlin tasked Gantz last month with attempting to form a coalition.
“The big gaps between the parties remain intact,” the parties said, describing the atmosphere of the talks as “good, serious and interesting.”
The talks have been deadlocked, with Gantz accusing Netanyahu of blocking the formation of a new coalition by refusing to show any flexibility regarding Blue and White’s demands. In a series of tweets last Tuesday, Gantz asserted that Netanyahu was pushing the country to its third election in less than a year.
Netanyahu, he maintained, was preventing a Blue and White-Likud unity government from being formed by refusing to abandon his 55 seat-strong bloc of right-wing and religious allies.
“Netanyahu isn’t willing to give up his bloc. Netanyahu isn’t willing to give up his immunity,” Gantz tweeted. “Netanyahu isn’t willing to discuss the basic guidelines for a unity government.”
“Netanyahu wants to drag Israel to a third election,” he charged. “I will do everything to prevent that. I will do everything to form a government.”
Likud has blamed Blue and White’s stubbornness for the failure to agree on a unity government, saying it has agreed in principle to an equal power-sharing arrangement.
Rivlin last month tasked Gantz with attempting to form a coalition, after Netanyahu failed in the wake of the September 17 elections. But Gantz’s chances of succeeding where the prime minister failed are seen as just as slim, with Netanyahu’s bloc of supporting lawmakers from his Likud, right-wing and religious parties refusing to budge. He has until November 20 to lock down a government.
At this point in time the Blue/White leaders have not all agreed to a Unity Government along the lines of current proposals on the table by Liberman or Rivlin. This could change within the week Gantz has left to form a coalition.
On a better path a possibility to have Liberman join with right wing/religious block of 55 lead by Bibi is being pursed by Shaked.
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@ Adam Dalgliesh:From what you copied.
“Gantz faces strong opposition from Telem, the right-wing party within Blue and White, as well as some within his own Hosen party, to forming a minority government supported by the Joint List because the faction is anti-Zionist, and has MKs who have expressed support for terrorist organizations.
A source in Telem told The Jerusalem Post last month that the party would consider leaving Blue and White if such a government is established.”
No government with Arabs happening, no matter how badly you want it to happen to prove your crystal ball works. Ask for your money back from the manufacturer if they can not fix your crystal ball because it is clearly very defective.
Real World Possibilities:
1. A unity government or;
2. Liberman joins with the right because Blue/White refused to compromise with Bibi.
3.New elections, or
4. MK gets 60 other MKs to support them and form a government in the 21 days after Gantz returns the mandate.
Gantz and Lieberman incessantly run down Netanyahu, and vice versa. Politicians who dislike and distrust each other don’t form coalitions. And their dislike and distrust for each other is not purely personal, but reflects the animosity felt for each other by their political parties as a whole. Blue White, Yisrael Beiteinu, and the leftist-scialist parties despise and loathe Likud and its( mainly religious) allies and vice versa. This makes a Likud-Blue-White-Yisrael Beiteinu coalition almost impossible. Even Rivlin doesn’t have the “magic” to bring it about.
These remarks make it plain thatLeiberman and Gantz are setting themselves up to form a leftist-Arab government that will exclude Likud. True, Lieberman has “dodged” making a direct response when asked if he would accept the anti_israel Arab parties as part of the ruling coalition. But that is a major change from his previous position that he wouls “never” serve in a government wiith the Arab parties. In addition, he speaks ominously of “other options” that he would consider if Netanyahu and Likud don’t accept a coalition government on his terms–which include the exclusion of all the religious parties. Gantz also uses the same phrase, “other options,” to describe what he will do if Likud doesn’t agree to a coalition on his terms. All Gantz and Lieberman have to do now is blame Netanyahu for the failure of the unity talks in order to justify to their constituencies forming a leftist-Arab government. I doubt if either of them will find it difficult to bring themselves to do this.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Ain’t happening! Sorry your crystal ball needs to be returned to the manufacture for being faulty. Is it still under warranty?
@ Bear Klein: All this talk of a “minority government” is deceptive in any case. No, there won’t be a minority government. There will be a majority government of 65 seats–53 Jewish legistators and 12 Arab legislators
Bennett’s critics are saying on TV okay he blamed everyone for not being aggressive for the problem in Gaza.
Now he is Def. Minister starting about one hour after al-Ata was killed by the IDF and Shabak.
There are about 200 missiles that have been shot at Israel since the morning. Israel has this time hit other terrorists and killed them and not just shot at empty buildings.
The challenge is what he will do differently.
Israeli TV is all about the attacks and people’s reactions to it. In between it is discussed how this affects or does not Israeli politics.
So far Hamas has not participated in the combat.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:I have been listening to Israelis on Israeli TV (experts and studio analysts) for around 7 straight hours today.
Even the leftists basically all related the following, Gantz forming a minority government with support from the Joint List was always extremely remote and problematical before today’s combat with Islamic Jihad but is now clearly impossible.
Yoaz Hendel of the Blue & White has come out with a statement today that their will be no minority government. He is one of the right wing members of Blue/White who has been against this from the beginning.
Adam, obviously you are entitled to your views and I do not expect much anything can influence them (on this subject) but simply put it ain’t happening no matter how many times you state this view in Israpundit.
@ Bear Klein: It takes no prophetic powers or a Ph.D. in military strategy to know that the only way that terrorism in Gaza can be ended is a major military operation that includes a ground operation as well as relentless use of airpower to destroy all of the terorists military assets, close all of the tunnels, and kill or capture all or nearly all the terrorists, including the terrorist leadership. But because they know that the International community” would be furious if Israel did all this, and would impose sanctions on Israel, successive Israeli governments have tried to bribe the Gaza’s into behaving less violently. This policy has been a total failure.
Gantz, I believe, will not only continue this policy but carry it a step further by opening or attempting to open negotiations with Hamas and Islamic Jihad for a unified Palestinian state, followed by a “two state solution,” He will probably ask the Bald party, with which he has been in contact for some time, to act as mediators and go-betweens in these negotiations.
Netanyahu and Gantz met for security update as Gaza violence rages
Blue and White leader, a former IDF chief, says escalation of hostilities won’t affect coalition talks; says slain Palestinian terror commander was ‘destined for death’
Rivlin, Gantz, Netenyahu and Liberman will meet later this week to try and iron out framework for unity government.
The new fighting between Israel and the terrorists in Gaza has paved the way for a unity government. Gantz has praised the elimination of Islamic Jihad’s Ata. The Arab’s all do not approve of this. Israel’s support this killing but many are asking what is the government’s solution to the problem terrorism from Gaza.
Glibberman has now made it plain that he will support a Gantz government with only leftists and Arab as the othe parties. All he has to do to avoid losing face when he joins the Blue-White-Joint List government is to declare that Netanyahu, not Gantz, is to blame for the failure to form a national unity government. He has just set himself up, with his latest pronouncement, to do just that.
Don’t buy it. Gantz has the 65 votes he needs. Why bring in Likud or Netanyahu? But it helps his image to pretend he is willing to “compromise” and form a “national unity government.” At some point he will simply say that his efforts to form a national unity government have failed, and then blame Netanyahu.
He has the 12 Arab votes in the bag if he needs them. His other allies have no choice but to support him or risk being left out in the political cold, and possibly being blamed for the dreaded “third election.” What more could a man want?
The anti-Zionist Arab party leaders have warned Gantz that they will withdraw their support if he continues to bomb Gaza, and Bennet is doing in his week in office. Once Gantz is sworn in, that sort of thing will stop.
Probably military action in Syria as well.