The Blue and White party says it will recommend its leader Benny Gantz be prime minister when faction heads meet with President Reuven Rivlin this week for consultations on who should form the next government.
“We will recommend Benny Gantz for the head of government. Over a million people chose us in order to lead and replace the government,” Blue and White says in statement.
Blue and White, an alliance of former military chief Gantz’s Israel Resilience and Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party, finished as the second largest party in last week’s elections with 35 seats, one less than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
In addition to heading the largest party, Netanyahu has the clearest path to assembling a ruling coalition in light of right-wing and religious parties receiving a majority of Knesset seats, making it all but assured Rivlin will give him the first shot at forming a government.
“We will respect the president’s decision and we thank him for the invitation to consultations,” Blue and White says.
Blue and White’s delegation to its meeting with Rivlin tomorrow will be headed by Gabi Ashkenazi, a former IDF chief and no. 4 on the party’s list, along with soon-to-be MKs Avi Nissenkorn, Orna Barbivai, Ram Ben Barak, Tzvi Hauser, Orli Froman and Omer Yankelovitch.
Members of the Blue White political party Benny Gantz (2L), Boogie Yaalon, Gabi Ashkenazi and Yair Lapid hold a press conference at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, on April 10, 2019. (Flash90)
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
