No election coming, say Gantz, Netanyahu associates
Opposition leader warns internal violence on the way
Israel is not on its way to its fourth election in under two years, Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
Gantz and Netanyahu’s associates responded to a report by Channel 12 that Netanyahu had said in a private conversation that “if [Blue and White] wants an election, it is their problem.” The report was regarding the fight between Likud and Blue and White over whether to pass two budgets or a two-year budget.
“I don’t think the prime minister is threatening,” Gantz told Army Radio. “Going to elections now would be irresponsible. In this chaos, we don’t need to go to elections. We in Blue and White will do everything possible to avoid a fourth election. The next election should be as far away as possible. We cannot continue to drive the people crazy after three elections by adding another. I am sure the prime minister understands this.”
Gantz said he thinks the challenges from the coronavirus will continue for the next year and a half, so the Finance Ministry should look at the next year and a half together.
Netanyahu intends to bring a budget for a preliminary vote in the cabinet this week or next week. Gantz refused to say whether Blue and White will oppose an annual budget.
Sources close to Netanyahu said that “Blue and White should not worry, because the prime minister does not want elections.”
“He understands the situation better than anyone,” Netanyahu’s associates told Israel Hayom. “There will not be elections.”
Finance Minister Israel Katz said at Maariv’s OECD Conference on Sunday that two one-year budgets was the only option, despite the coalition agreement with Blue and White, which calls for a twoyear budget.
Blue and White has threatened a coalition crisis if the agreement is not honored. Katz urged Blue and White’s leaders not to try to score political points at the expense of the public, which wants economic stability.
“I am in favor of keeping the government together,” he said. “It would be irresponsible now to decide what will happen next year. I have no interest in a political crisis.”
Katz said he is working on a new economic plan for dealing with the impact of the coronavirus on the economy for the year ahead.
“The coronavirus unfortunately does not intend to leave us,” Katz said. “That is why I am working on a plan for the next year, until there is a chance for a vaccine that could be developed and ready to be implemented.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid warned at the same conference that violence will soon break out among Israelis, because of incitement from Netanyahu and his loyalists and the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.
Speaking to Ma’ariv analyst Ben Caspit, Lapid said Netanyahu’s continued attacks on Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit were “completely irresponsible.”
“It is going toward violence,” Lapid predicted. “People are in despair, because they don’t have anything to eat.”
Lapid blamed his former political partner, Gantz, for facilitating the formation of the government. He said he was not impressed by Gantz and other Blue and White figures starting to criticize Netanyahu.
“It’s nice that they criticize, but we already have a state comptroller,” Lapid said. “The question is whether they can succeed in preventing something.”