Meretz, Joint List blast Gantz for ‘selling out’ on apparent annexation deal

Reacting to the apparent coalition deal on annexation, Meretz leader Nitzan Horovitz slams what he calls the formation of an “annexation and corruption government.”

“Gantz has fallen to a new low and sold out all his values. In exchange for a handful of sweetheart appointments, Gantz will enter a government under a premier with three indictments and will cave on annexation demands. The generations cry out. Gantz and [Labor head] Amir Peretz are aligning with [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Naftali] Bennett and dealing a fatal blow to the Zionist vision and the opportunity to split into two states,” he says in a statement, referring to two far-right leaders.

Joint List chair MK Ayman Odeh speaks during a faction meeting at the Knesset on November 18, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties, says Gantz “giving in on annexation is the most severe yet.”

“This means killing any chance at peace and the cementing of an apartheid state with Jewish citizens and Palestinian subjects,” he says in a statement.