Gantz turns down Netanyahu offer, calls for ‘liberal unity government’

Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz turns down Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to form a government.

“Today I received an offer that is impossible to not refuse,” Gantz tweets.

“We’ll wait to receive the mandate from the president and we’ll start serious negotiations on forming a liberal unity government that will lead to a change and return hope to Israeli citizens,” he adds.

In a statement, Blue and White says the behavior of the “outgoing prime minister” shows his interest is “not unity but immunity.”

“He [Netanyahu] is unprepared to recognize that most Israeli citizens voted for a liberal unity government, without extremists,” the centrist party says.

“We call on Netanyahu to return the mandate to the president and enable the Blue and White chairman [Gantz] to lead the formation of a government that will fix the security and economic problems the current government created.”