From the Liveblog of
Monday, April 15, 2024
Lapid urges Gantz, Eisenkot to help bring down government
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on National Unity ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot to help bring down the government, saying that they would have more influence on policy in a new coalition.
“The way to influence is helping us overthrow this government. And we will form a government and in this government they will have much more influence. Benny Gantz may be the prime minister. There is no citizen who would not welcome Eisenkot as Israel’s defense minister,” he says.
Arguing that Gantz and Eisenkot’s positions are being ignored by the current leadership, Lapid says that by helping to tank the government “they can really affect the destiny of this country in a positive, substantial and profound way.”
Even if the National Unity party left the government, as its former partner New Hope recently did, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition would still have enough seats to remain in power.
Earlier this month, Gantz called on Netanyahu to “agree on a date for elections in September,” an appeal rejected by the prime minister. According to recent polls, nearly three-quarters of the Israel public want Netanyahu to resign against the backdrop of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, with half the country also preferring early elections for the Knesset.
The Times of Israel Community.