Citing rise in infections, Blue and White minister urges Yesh Atid-Telem to join government

A Blue and White minister urges the opposition Yesh Atid-Telem faction to join the government, citing the recent rise in new coronavirus cases.

“I call on Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid and the former defense minister, MK Moshe Ya’alon, to show national responsibility and declare they’ll join the unity government in any sort of emergency positions until we all know the situation is under long-term control,” Science and Technology Minister Izhar Shay writes on Facebook.

Shay cites a recent television poll in which 69 percent of Israelis said the government’s most pressing task is addressing the economic fallout caused by the sweeping lockdown measures put in place to contain the virus, saying other matters like Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plans to annex West Bank lands should be put aside for now.

“After we know we’ve succeeded in this difficult crisis, we’ll return to fighting and quarreling. To forming and dismantling governments. If you really want, we can even go to expensive and wasteful elections, that will bring us to a similar political situation to the one we’re in today,” Shay says.

Lapid and Ya’alon ran on a joint slate with Blue and White in the three elections over the past year, but broke with the party of its leader Benny Gantz’s decision to join a government led by Netanyahu, which they opposed due to the premier’s indictment on graft charges.