Gantz called out to Netanyahu and asked him to come to the negotiation table without the bloc or any other tricks, citing the good of the state as the reason that should be done.
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate and bring about a unity government, in a press conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
“Since I entered politics, I called for unity and I am optimistic today that we can reach it,” Gantz said. “I call on Netanyahu and the Likud, let’s negotiate immediately, with talk about content and without preconditions, without spin and blocs, for the people of Israel. Let us build a real unity government.”
Gantz’s comments come the day after President Reuven Rivlin tasked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the next government. Netanyahu called for a unity government with Likud and Blue and White, but remains committed to the other parties in the right-wing bloc, whereas Blue and White has refused to negotiate with the full 55-seat bloc instead of just Likud.
Gantz emphasized that the “content” of the government, meaning its policy aims, are more important to him than who gets which portfolio.
“I don’t want to be prime minister because I want a plane or a motorcade,” Gantz said. “I want the public’s trust because of the mission, not the power.”
As for his party’s commitment not to be in a government with Netanyahu when he is under indictment, Gantz also said that Blue and White is not an “anyone but Bibi” party, rather that they are “looking for public integrity [and] want to act against corruption.”
Gantz posited that Netanyahu is the only person with an interest in a third election.
“We don’t need another election that will sharpen differences. We need a framework that unites,” he added. “An election could lead to a break between the citizens and the state.”
As reported by The Jerusalem Post