Gantz claims Lapid-Bennett union makes it harder to defeat government

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s decision to merge their slates ahead of this year’s election “harms the ability to replace this terrible government,” alleges Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, insisting that “the best solution is a broad, Zionist government.”

“Instead of calling out to right-wing voters, Likudniks, and Religious Zionists who are looking for a new home today — and telling them that we will ensure the establishment of a broad Zionist government without extremists, that will handle conscription and security and economic challenges — they chose to continue entrenching themselves in intra-bloc battles and obsessing over ‘who’ will lead, rather than ‘where’ we will lead,” Gantz writes on Facebook.

“Both Bennett and Lapid are people I respect, but each of them has once again chosen what serves them personally, rather than what serves the country,” he continues.

For voters who want “a victory for the entire people of Israel,” he says, “I am your insurance policy to do everything possible to replace Netanyahu and the government of extremists, and to ensure the establishment of a broad Zionist government. In today’s political arena, only Blue and White guarantees that an extremist government won’t rise here again, nor a narrow minority government that relies on Arab parties and would collapse in the face of the first security challenge.”

Gantz is currently polling under the electoral threshold and is the only member of the Zionist opposition not invited to a meeting of anti-Netanyahu party leaders proposed by Yashar chairman and his former political ally, Gadi Eisenkot.

Gantz has broken with other opposition leaders by suggesting he could join a Netanyahu-led government and has resisted attempts to be categorized as part of the opposition bloc.