Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose mandate ends Wednesday at midnight, invited his main rival, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, for negotiations in a last-minute effort to form a unity government following a failed attempt to put their differences aside and come to terms at a meeting in Jerusalem
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose mandate ends Wednesday at midnight, invited his main rival, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, for negotiations in a last-minute effort to form a unity government following a failed attempt to put their differences aside and come to terms at a meeting in Jerusalem."Benny Gantz, it is not too late. Come sit together and announce still tonight that we are forming a unity government. This is what Israel needs. It is forbidden to drag Israel into additional elections," Netanyahu was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Gantz is expected to respond to Netanyahu's proposal during a press conference in Tel Aviv later in the evening.
The main disagreement between the two politicians lies in Gantz's insistence that parliamentary bloc Joint List, made up of Arab members of parliament, be included in the coalition. Netanyahu is categorically opposed to sharing power with Arab-Israeli politicians.
After the first parliamentary elections in April, Netanyahu had the opportunity to form a new government coalition, with the support of the largest number of elected lawmakers 55. However, in the 28 days allotted to him by law, he failed to assemble a coalition of a parliamentary majority of 61 seats.
The second election in September saw Gantz pull slightly ahead of Netanyahu, but his party was still short of a majority. In the event that Ganz's efforts are also unsuccessful, the right to form a government could be granted to any lawmaker who can unite 61 parliamentarians in one coalition. Otherwise, Israel may head to its third election in less than a year.
