Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reached out to his political rival Benny Gantz urging to form a broad unity government, only to see his offer swiftly shut down by the Blue and White chairman.
"I call on Benny Gantz to assume his responsibility to the nation of Israel and join me immediately in negotiations to urgently form the government the State of Israel so desperately needs," Netanyahu said in a recorded video message posted to his Twitter account.
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The message did not appear to address any of Blue and White's misgivings against entering a coalition with the Likud, including Netanyahu's legal troubles.
Gantz alluded to the pending corruption charges against Netanyahu, saying that the embattled leader sought "immunity rather than unity," and going on to brand the proposal "an offer I could not refuse."
Time is running out for Netanyahu to form a government, as the mandate handed to him by President Reuven Rivlin is set to expire on Oct. 24, with an extension seen as unlikely.
It is expected that Gantz will then be tasked to form a government, but neither he nor Netanyahu has been left with a clear-cut path to do so in the wake of September's election.
Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party: Twice I've met with Benjamin #Netanyahu since the last elections. Unfortunately, the impression that I received was that instead of working for the citizens of the state of Israel, they are trying to force me to play a "blame game." pic.twitter.com/NwD2Zi7KsY
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 3, 2019
Meanwhile, a report by Channel 12 News claimed that Netanyahu hoped to achieve a rotation deal by breaking up the centrist Blue and White faction, where co-chairman Yair Lapid is seen as the main obstacle to Gantz's joining forces with Netanyahu.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
