Blue & White frontrunner Benny Gantz meets with Avigdor Lieberman to discuss forming a government that serves Arabs and Jews; Gantz: a joint list alliance of Arab-majority parties ‘won’t be a part of my government.’
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won Israel’s third election by a landslide but failed to obtain the required 61 seats in the Knesset to form a majority government, Blue & White frontrunner Benny Gantz is seizing the opportunity. With Netanyahu unable to secure the two needed seats (he has 59), Gantz is now working with Knesset Member Avigdor Lieberman to form a government to serve the Arabs and the Jews.
This move by Benny Gantz is completely contrary to the words he vowed in February when he stated that a Joint List alliance of Arab-majority parties “won’t be a part of my government.” He would further admit that “The Joint Arab List and I are deeply divided on the diplomatic, national and security concerns of the State of Israel. Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, the only one of its kind, which must protect itself from its outside enemies.”
In perhaps his strongest terms he stated, “Israel can’t suffer support terrorism, and Israel can’t tolerate evasion in condemning it. I’ve made it clear before and I’ll say it again – I’m not afraid of talking to any legitimate political party, but the Joint Arab List won’t be a part of my government. My disagreements with its leadership on national and security matters alone are deep, difficult and irreconcilable.”
Furthermore, Gantz will be meeting with all four leaders of the Joint List faction tomorrow.
If anything is clear at this point, it’s that the ends justify the means for Gantz. Using the excuse of ‘avoiding a fourth election, Gantz, among other Joint List officials, are doing whatever they deem necessary to assume power. The true motive most clearly surfaced when Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh stated,
“We stick to our goal of replacing Netanyahu’s legacy, and it starts by respecting the united voice of the Arab public and our Jewish partners.”
The question to be asking is if Gantz is willing to violate his word to the Israeli voter(s) before having zero power, what will he be willing to do once he’s in office?
