Gantz: ‘The Joint List will not be part of the government I form’

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, speaking during a tour of Arab Israeli communities in the north of Israel, says that he will not form a government with the Joint List, and that he will work to implement US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

Saying that Israel “cannot tolerate support for terrorism or avoid condemnation,” Gantz says: “I am not afraid to speak to any legitimate political party, but the Joint List will not be part of the government I form.”

“My disagreements with its leadership on the national and security issues are deep, difficult and unbridgeable,” he says.

Gantz adds: “I intend to implement President Trump’s peace plan, in coordination with all the elements in the region, and see it as a significant milestone.”

His comments come after Joint List chair Ayman Odeh said earlier today that he will not back Gantz as prime minister after the coming elections unless the Blue and White party chief makes a clear statement rejecting two key aspects of the Trump administration’s peace plan.

Odeh told Army Radio he wants Gantz to publicly rule out extending Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and other areas of the West Bank. In addition, he must reject a clause in the plan that would see some Arab Israeli towns and their residents become part of a future Palestinian state, Odeh said.

While backing the Trump plan, Gantz said he opposed its suggestion that some Arab Israeli towns become part of Palestine.

“I want to take this issue off the table and state that no Israeli, Jewish or Arab citizen will be coerced into another country,” he says.

— Raoul Wootliff