Three of Blue and White’s four leaders may be willing to compromise to form unity government, report says.
Arutz Sheva Staff, 13/11/19 12:43
Blue and White leaders Chairman MK Benny Gantz, MK Moshe Ya’alon, and MK Gabi Ashkenazi have ruled out the formation of a minority government supported from the outside by the Joint Arab List, and are working towards the formation of a unity government with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, Israel Hayom reported.
It is estimated that the three leaders have already agreed to the President’s compromise, that Netanyahu should be first in a rotational deal, and that the 55-MK right-religious bloc is also welcome in the government, provided the number of ministers is equal in both the center-left and right-religious blocs.
According to Israel Hayom, the issues currently preventing a government are that Blue and White insists Netanyahu take leave immediately upon an indictment being filed, while the Likud is working to create an agreement that will allow Netanyahu to serve as long as possible.
Another issue is the fact that Blue and White’s fourth leader, MK Yair Lapid, who it is believed still refuses to sit with both Netanyahu and the haredi parties.
The four Blue and White leaders will continue discussions on Wednesday, in order to decide whether or not to restart negotiations with the Likud, and if they do, whether it will be the entire Blue and White party, or Ya’alon’s Telem party and Gantz’s Israel Resilience party, with Lapid’s Yesh Atid party remaining outside the coalition.
MK Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) who on Saturday insisted that both Gantz and Netanyahu compromise, will meet Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday to discuss the compromise proposal and a possible unity government. Following that meeting, Liberman will meet both Gantz and Netanyahu separately.
Liberman was scheduled to meet Gantz on Tuesday, but they canceled the meeting due to the rocket attacks.
Caroline Glick: A Note on Tuesday’s Elections http://carolineglick.com/a-note-on-tuesdays-elections/
@ Adam Dalgliesh:Okay a good example to explain what I mean you are missing out when not being able to listen to someone speak.
So when Liberman answers’ that the question is not relevant for your purposes you read a quote or interpret it that he is dodging the question.
Yet as we all know when a person talks how they expresses themselves includes tone, in-flexion and body gestures to communicate.
Verbally when one listen’s he is answering the question with disdain and being dismissive of such a question. It is not a dodge.
My guess is that you will not be open to listening to me because your heals are dug in.
Anyway it is getting real late or early got to go.
The latest article in the Jerusalem Post concerning negotiations to form a national unity government strengthens my belief that both the Blue-White coalition, including Gantz, as well as Leiberman, are extremely reluctant to form a national unity government that would include any of the right wing parties; while the Likud, including Netanyahu and Sa’ar, are much more open to this idea. It also confirms my belief that Gantz, most of his colleagues in the Blue-White coalition , and Lieberman,are all open to a leftist government]- depending on the Pro-PLO and pro-Hamas Joint lIst for support. Notice that Lieberman continues to dodge this question by claiming that it is “irrelevant.”
Blue and White not expecting breakthrough in Liberman meeting
Liberman accuses Netanyahu of “begging Egypt to help us surrender.”
By GIL HOFFMAN, LAHAV HARKOV NOVEMBER 13, 2019 22:34
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz meets with Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman (photo credit: ELAD MALKA)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz meets with Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman
@ Sebastien Zorn:Gantz is NOT my choice for PM. I would prefer a right wing government.
@ Bear Klein:
So, with or without the Arab List, which Israeli papers reported he countenanced talks and a policy of ambiguity with, he is dangerous. He also talked about putting the lives of enemy civilians ahead of Israeli soldiers in interviews. He has a record of incompetence in business and in war. He must not be PM. We are agreed?
@ Sebastien Zorn:Yeah, I remember when he said that stuff (back last February as per date of article you have linked) and was completely disenchanted with Gantz then and as I have told you numerous times I am not a fan of Gantz.
Congratulations on showing a link. Your first time?
@ Bear Klein:
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/politics/he-talks-gantz-urges-applying-gush-katif-expulsion-lessons-elsewhere/2019/02/06/
@ Adam Dalgliesh:No the essence of our disagreement is that you do not understand Israel well, its voters or the politicians. You are making stuff up at times that is not based on facts but your imagination or projections based on insufficient information.
I am not trying to insult you, I realize it may sound that way. Not being able to listen to interviews and discussions in Hebrew severely limits your exposure, knowledge and understanding of both the politicians and the people of Israel.
Clearly you are entitled to your views and to express them. I believe you are passionate about Israel and mean well.
So feel free to believe that the Arab Joint List will be part of Gantz’s coalition and we will just have to disagree. If it was true they could have already done it for the last three weeks.
By the way as I have told you before I am not a Gantz or Liberman fan or potential voter. That said, they both understand that having the Arab Joint List in a coalition that they would sign up for would be political suicide in Israel. I am not sure you understand this based on your crystal ball.
@ Bear Klein: The essence of our disagreements over the intentions of Israeli politicians, Bear, is that you tend to take their public statements as true indications of their intentions, while I believe they are often for intended only for public consumption, and veil twhat they actually intend to do once they are in office. I don’t think Israeli politicians, or for that matter most politicians in general, tell the public the full truth about what they plan to do, or even what they now doing or have done in the past.
In the case of Gantz, I believe that he has concealed what he has said in secret from the Israeli public on at least one occasion, and even concealed the fact that he was even present at a crucial meaning in which important decision were made (the INSS meeting of November 2018). I can’t explain why I believe this to be the case in a comment of this sort, it would take a whole article, but I base my conclusions on a February 2019 report in the Times of Israel, ans well as information on a very inconspicuous and hard to locate page on the INSS website. There is evidence that Gantz was not only present at that meeting, but endorsed the resolutions adopted there, including one for an Israeli withdrawal from the central mountainous area of Judea-Samaria, an area crucial to Israel for security reasons, in order to pave the way for a contiguous Palstinian state in this area. I think the propsal is bad enough for Israel’s security. But Gantz’s failure to announce, at least diectly and in so many words, his support for the iNSS peace plan makes me have grave doubts about his moral character and fitness for office. On the other hand, if you read his statements during an interview shortly after he launched his campaign, (he has given very few interviews since), I think you will find evidence that his position is very close to that of the INSS, even though he expresses his views obliquely. If you read the Blue-White program carefully, with attention to what it does not say, it is clear that Gantz does intend to withdraw from central Judea=Samaria, including strategic locations within “Area C” and all of “Area B.” The platform says that Blue-White is committed to retaing control of the major settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley, but says nothing about what Blue-White intends for central Judea-Samaria, which is home for 80-90 thousand Jewish Israelis. I find this omission ominous.
As for Lieberman, he has changed his positions and contradicted himself so often in the past year, and even before then, that I don’t think anything he says can be trusted as revealing his true intentions. I am not even sure that he knows himself what his intentions are, other than to play ‘kingmaker” and draw attention to himself.
Rivlin will be publishing his proposal for a unity government.
Gantz, Yaalon, and Ashkenazi three of the four Blue/White leaders have now stated they are against a minority government backed by the Joint List. Only Lapid would agree to this in theory. Plus others in Blue/White against
No chance for this period!
@ roamnrab: Many thanks for your support Roamnrab. I was beginning to feel like the “Lone Ranger’ on this issue.
As for Telem (isn’t that Yaalon and his one legislative partner?) saying last monththat they could not serve in a government that depended on the votes of the anti-Zionist parties, that was last month. Gants has had a month to work on bringing around the “dissidents” in his own coalition, and he has made good use of this time. An article about two weeks ago in the JP said that when at a closed-door meeting of Blue-White MKs, the “dissidents” confronted Gantz with their objections to an alliance with the anti-Zionists, he poined out to them that he was the leader of the party, and that they were obligated to accept his decisions. And his decision was to maintain his policy of “ambiguity” as to whether Blue-White would accept a role in the government for the anti-Zionist parties. According to the Post reporter, his internal dissidents agreed to accept his demand, and have since fallen silent.
As for the posturing about never agreeing to the anti-Zionists’ participation in the government because of their refusal to support the strikes on Gaza, that is likely to last only until the latest eruption in fighting dies down. That will probably be within a few days, if the pattern of past flare-ups that do not involve major ground operations holds up. Once things settle down, the resolve to avoid cooperation with the pro-Fatah and pro-Hamas legislators will probably disappear.
Remember that Rivlin can always give Gantz to additional weeks to form a government–or a total of three weeks and one day from today. The present national emergency gives Rivlin the perfect rationale to give Gantz more time to form his government, on Gantz’s own terms. Not to mention the horror everyone in Israel seems to feel at the prospect of a third election.
I believe that Gantz is relying on everyone’s horror at the prospect of a third election to ensure the support of enough MKs to enable him to form a leftist-anti-Zionist coalition government that excludes Likud and the other rightist parties. People won’t be happy, but they will submit to what I think is his driving will, reinforced by his secretiveness and “ambiguity.”
Adam Dalgliesh Said:
Adam, as usual, your assessment and inquisitive questions are Spot On!
In Israeli Politics, there are ALWAYS Side-kicks which are the MAIN ISSUES (for the Politicians). And they are ALWAYS more considerations to THEM then the real needs and will of The Citizens (who keep believing their bluff- that they really have THEIR interests in mind!).
Also Correct!
Basically means, they will remain in perpetual deadlock on the EXTREMELY VITAL ISSUE OF (KEEPING) THE STATUS QUO OF THE “JEWISH NATURE” OF THE “JEWISH STATE.”
This is a quotation from today’s JP. It raises many troubling questions.
If Leiberman wants a coalition government, why does he continue to blast Netanyahu, and in the middle of a war, too? Hardly a way of persuading Netanyahu to join a coalition government.
If Rivlin is concerned about Gantz’s failure to agree to his coalition proposal, why doesn’t he meet with Gantz himself, rather than relying on Lieberman as a mediator? Leiberman has made it plain almost every day since May, and even yesterday, that he he hates and despises Netanyahu. He has never been noted for his diplomatic skills. Why use him as a mediator if Rivlin really wants a coalition deal?
Notice also that Netanyahu has accepted Rivlin’s coalition proposal, while Gantz and (as far as I can tell) Leiberman have not. This leads me to believe that it is Netanyahu who wants a coalition government, not his opponents in Blue White, Yisrael Beitenu, etc.