Political rivals to hold talks in bid for unity government to break deadlock
Called to talks to break political deadlock as virus crisis looms.
ISRAELI PRIME minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his challenger Benny Gantz have been summoned by Israel’s president to an emergency meeting.
President Reuven Rivlin announced the talks after a day of consultations with the country’s political parties ahead of his decision about who should lead Israel’s next government.
It is hoped the meeting will break the deadlock that has paralysed the political system for the past year and could threaten the country’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
With rival sides evenly divided following the country’s third inconclusive election in under a year, a unity government may be the only way out of the deadlock, which comes as the government confronts an increasingly serious coronavirus threat.
The president is responsible for designating the candidate he thinks has the best chance of being able to form a government by securing a parliamentary majority.
That task has been complicated by the results of the March 2 election, in which Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party emerged as the largest single party, but fell short of a 61-seat parliamentary majority with its allies of smaller religious and nationalist parties.
Mr Netanyahu’s opponents, representing a slim 62-seat majority, recommended to Mr Rivlin that Mr Gantz be named the prime minister-designate.
But the opposition is deeply fragmented – with the predominantly Arab Joint List and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu among them – giving Mr Gantz slim odds of being able to cobble together a government.
Mr Netanyahu has invited Mr Gantz to join him in an emergency government.