Report: Gantz Doesn’t Believe Netanyahu Will Honor Coalition Agreement

YERUSHALAYIM
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz at the weekly Cabinet meeting, on July 5. (Amit Shabi/POOL)

Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) does not believe that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will uphold the rotation agreement handing him the premiership in November 2021, Channel 12 reported on Monday.

“I understand I won’t get the rotation,” Gantz was cited as telling Blue and White faction members who gathered to discuss the alternatives of remaining in the coalition or dissolving the Knesset.

“I will not believe Netanyahu even a day before [the rotation] happens,” Gantz added.

According to Channel 12, the Blue and White faction split into two camps in a heated debate. MKs Ram Shefa, Miki Chaimovich and Asaf Zamir represented the camp pushing to head into election as soon as possible.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who sided with the “militant” camp alongside Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, asserted that “I came to be a part of the alternative… which is why we need to dissolve [the Knesset] now.”

The opposite camp, represented by MKs Chilik Tropper, Omer Yankelevich and Pnina Tamano-Shata, warned that going to elections “would be suicidal” – referring to recent polls giving Blue and White ten seats or lower on average.

Gantz, according to the report, stressed that he is willing to “pay with [his] seat,” but will delay a decision for two weeks.

On Tuesday, Gantz demanded a polygraph test to all the MKs of Blue and White, to learn who leaked the story to the media.

 

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