Likud: Blue and White piling on demands, dragging Israel to elections

Likud continues to lash out at coalition partner Blue and White, accusing Benny Gantz’s party of seeking elections.

“Blue and White is running away from [Derech Eretz MK] Hauser’s compromise, which they agreed to, and are dragging the country to elections, with false claims and by creating difficulties at the last minute,” an official from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party says, according to a Likud statement.

The compromise is a reference to a delay in the passage of the state budget, whose deadline expires tonight. If the approval of the delay passes its two Knesset readings, as expected, it will push off Monday night’s budget deadline by 120 days, postponing the possibility that Israelis will go to the polls for the fourth time since April 2019.

Among the various grievances listed in the statement, the Likud official says Blue and White is refusing to create a panel on political appointments with an equal number of lawmakers from both parties. The official also claims Gantz’s party is trying to “define the budget as a two-year budget” rather than a one-year plan, which Netanyahu has sought.

“While Gantz’s Blue and White agreed to the compromise, [Foreign Minister] Gabi Ashkenazi’s Blue and White is dragging the country to elections,” the official adds.