Netanyahu to Gantz: I want unity, don’t be dragged behind Lapid and Bennett

In a statement released moments before Benny Gantz’s speech, Benjamin Netanyahu urges Gantz to stay in the government, alleging that Blue and White is “being dragged behind [Yair] Lapid and [Naftali] Bennett.”

“This is not the time for elections — this is the time for unity,” he says.

He also repeats his accusation that Blue and White was working against the government from inside the coalition and breaking agreements, but says they should “put that to the side.”

“What we need now is a U-turn from politics for the good of Israeli citizens,” he says.

Most analysts believe that while Netanyahu wants early elections, he prefers they be timed later in the year. Both sides also appear to be trying to cast the other as having caused the dissolution of the coalition and the return to elections for the fourth time in two years.