Gantz-Lapid merger talks face serious obstacles — report

Efforts to form a centrist alliance between rising star Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid that could challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud have hit a snag, Channel 13 reports.

Lapid isn’t willing to discuss a joint leadership in the form of a rotation that would see both leaders alternating in the chairman position, the TV network quotes a source familiar with the discussions as saying. The efforts are being led by former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who has promised to join such an alliance.

The problems don’t stop there, according to the report. Even if the leadership issue is settled, the parties are likely to spar over the makeup of the Knesset slate. Officials in Lapid’s party have reportedly pointed to a generous agreement Gantz made with former top general Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem, a party which wasn’t predicted to enter the Knesset had it run independently, thus demanding a similarly generous agreement.