Blue and White: ‘We’re at War’

The Blue and White Party plans a “surprise” Motzoei Shabbos for its supporters, as it goes on a “war footing” against the Likud and its prospective coalition partners. “You wanted action, you wanted war? Here it comes,” the party said in a social media post.

“Beginning this week Blue and White is in ‘war mode,’ the post said. “We are beginning a new campaign that will soon be publicized. We will protest outside the homes of coalition members. We will be out in the field – and on Saturday night, a big surprise awaits us,” the post said, without specifying what that surprise will be.

Meanwhile, Blue and White’s number two, Yair Lapid, was absorbing sharp criticism on social media for his apparent lack of math skills. In a post Thursday, Lapid urged Avigdor Liberman to hold out and not join Binyamin Netanyahu’s prospective coalition. “I said in a radio interview that if he waits a few months he will get 55 votes from our side in order to raise pensions like he promised he would,” Lapid wrote, referring to a campaign promise Liberman made. “Together we will have 61 votes” to establish a government, he added.

Response to the post was swift and harsh. “This is the same person who was Finance Minister? He can’t add,” said one critic in response to the post, pointing out that 55 and an additional five was 60, not 61. Others slammed Lapid for his political naivete. “He’s got Liberman in the same government with Arab parties,” wrote another critic, pointing out that ten of those 55 were Arab MKs – and that Liberman was unlikely to join a coalition that included Arabs, even if they could be persuaded to join one led by three former IDF Chiefs of Staff.