Lapid gives up rotation deal with Gantz in event new elections are held

Blue and White No. 2 Yair Lapid announces that he will abandon a rotation agreement for the premiership with party leader Benny Gantz.

“If there are elections, we’ve decided that this time there won’t be a rotation agreement. We will go together, all of us, a large and united Blue and White behind Benny Gantz, our candidate for prime minister,” Lapid says at the opening of the Blue and White faction meeting in the Knesset.

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t a difficult decision. I sat on Friday evening with my children and said to them, ‘I promised you that I would always do what’s best for the country. This is what’s best for the country,'” Lapid says. “I don’t feel like I’m giving up on something. I feel privileged. It’s a privilege to be part of Blue and White. To be part of the change this country needs as much as we need oxygen to breathe. Part of the change is remembering that you are not the issue, the citizens of Israel are.”

The agreement — which would have seen Gantz take the post for the first two and a half years if the party forms the next government, and Lapid taking over for the next year and a half — was key to the unity deal between Gantz’s Israel Resilience and Lapid’s Yesh Atid when the two factions merged to form Blue and White ahead of the April elections.

According to Lapid, “We built the largest party in the country. We set principles and values and stood by them despite all the temptations. We will do everything to prevent elections in the coming few days. If we succeed, great. If not – Blue and White will run united in the next election, led by Benny Gantz. And we will win.”

— Raoul Wootliff