Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief rival, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, said Monday that he has agreed with a smaller party to work together to form a new government following national elections last week.
President Reuven Rivlin must decide by next week who to choose as the prime minister-designate.
The president typically chooses the candidate he deems has the best chance of forming a governing coalition. That is usually the leader of the largest party – in this case Netanyahu. But if he believes Gantz has a better chance, he could give the former military chief the first crack at cobbling together a coalition.
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Rivlin's office said the president would hold one day of consultations with the eight parties elected to parliament next Sunday before he makes his decision. Each of the parties is to tell him who they support during the consultations.
Likud will naturally recommend Netanyahu, as will ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, and Yamina, a faction comprising the New Right, National Union, and Habayit Hayehudi parties.
Netanyahu's opponents, led by Gantz, control a majority of seats. But beyond their shared animosity toward Netanyahu, there are deep divisions between these parties, which include the secular, ultranationalist Yisrael Beytenu party and the Arab-led Joint List.
Gantz stands to garner the support of his party, as well as that of the Labor-Gesher-Meretz faction. But while the Joint Arab List, an alliance comprising the Arab or mostly Arab parties Balad, Ra'am-Ta'al, and Hadash, endorsed him following the September 2019 elections, it has not pledged to do so at this time.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman said he would not endorse Netanyahu and Monday's announcement dealt a new setback to Netanyahu as he struggles to hold on to power ahead of his upcoming trial on corruption charges.
Gantz said that he had a good meeting with Lieberman, adding that the two "discussed questions of fundamental principle and determined that we will work together to assemble a government that will pull Israel out of the political deadlock and avert a fourth round of elections."
Gantz's announcement with Lieberman marked a step toward unifying those anti-Netanyahu forces, though it remains unclear whether they can reach a final agreement, much less a deal with Arab politicians. Lieberman has in the past branded Arab political leaders as terrorist sympathizers.
An endorsement from Lieberman, who had refrained from taking sides during the previous two elections, would increase Gantz's chances of success.
Still, a move to garner the Arab parties' support for a minority government – meaning they would not be part of the coalition but rather support its formation from the outside – could hit a snag from within.
MKs Zvi Houser and Yoaz Hendel, considered Blue and White's more hawkish lawmakers, voiced opposition to the move and have vexed co-founders Moshe Ya'alon, Gabi Ashkenazi and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
Houser and Hendel are said to be the only two Blue and White MKs that have not ruled out joining a Netanyahu-led national unity government, something Gantz said he would never do.
While the two stated they would not resign from Blue and White over the issue or defect to Likud, Blue and White insiders said Monday that they may not have a choice if Gantz pushes through with his plans for a minority government.
