Israel's Gantz vows to win without Netanyahu, Arabs

Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz is vowing to form a government that will include neither the indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the predominantly Arab parties in Parliament.

In a series of TV interviews two weeks before national elections, Gantz looked to project confidence that the March 2 vote will provide the decisive outcome that eluded the two previous elections last year.

Gantz laid out two potential paths while speaking to Channel 12 News on Saturday night. He said he's either going to partner with a broad range of “Jewish and democratic” parties, including the ultra-nationalist party led by apparent kingmaker Avigdor Lieberman. Or he could team up with the ruling Likud Party, but only if it gets rid of longtime leader Netanyahu. the country's governing party after a scramble to replace the original contender who abruptly withdrew after a leak of sex videos on social media.

The choice of Buzyn, whose profile rose with the outbreak of the new deadly virus from China, came just two days after a frantic search for a candidate began. It underscored the importance that President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party places on winning the mayor's office — and emerging from a scandal.

The post of mayor of Paris is currently held by Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist looking to renew her term and favored in polls in the tworound municipal elections to be held in one month.