Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi appears poised to quit Blue and White unless party leader Benny Gantz retires from politics or offers to be his No. 2, the latter option having been raised by several senior party members in recent days.

According to an earlier report in Israel Hayom, as part of efforts to persuade him to join his Israel Resilience party, Gantz promised Ashkenazi the role of successor once he stepped down.

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In recent weeks, Blue and White has been in a state of disintegration following its poor showing in the polls,  a recent series of unflattering media reports, and the growing rift between Gantz and his fellow party members, who have criticized the former IDF chief of staff for his lack of leadership. Moreover, numerous party members, including those currently serving as ministers, are weighing their next move and ascertaining alternative parties they can link up with ahead of the 2021 election.

In the coming weeks, Gadi Eizenkot is expected to decide which party he intends to join. There are at least five parties actively pursuing the former IDF chief of staff at this time. Eizenkot is said to be weighing whether to enter politics in the first place when a mandatory cooling-off period will keep him from serving as a minister in the coming months. He may as a result prefer to hold off until the next election campaign.

Members of the Yamina party, which had been poised to present the biggest challenge to Likud in the coming election up until Sa'ar's breakaway move, insisted they were unconcerned by the polls. The party has been trying to differentiate itself from New Hope by saying Sa'ar's party offered Israeli voters "more of the same."

"Gideon Sa'ar's party is a party of politicians: Sa'ar, Elkin, [former Likud MK Yifat] Shasha-Biton, [Derech Eretz party heads Yoav] Hendel, [Zvi] Hauser, and [former Likud MK Michal] Shir. They're all politicians who were recently in the Knesset and the government and failed. The public shouldn't suffice with more politicians, it needs people of action, professionals. [Yamina party head Naftali] Bennett and [Ayelet] Shaked came from the private sector. [Yamina member Bezalel] Smotrich has already proven himself in the Transportation Ministry."

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No matter how much he may have tried, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not have broken up the unity government and avoided honoring the rotation deal with Blue and White head Benny Gantz had members of the defense minister's party actually behaved as if they were members of the coalition government. No amount of tricks or loopholes in the coalition agreement would have made any difference. Nor did Netanyahu have any exit ramps for calling an early election in mind when he entered talks to form the coalition government. After all, he was the one who demanded a two-year state budget be written into the deal.

The many years Netanyahu has spent in the prime minister's seat have proven that despite all the rivalry and paranoia, he knows how to be pragmatic, even when it comes to his haters. He has formed governments with Tzipi Livni of the now-defunct Zionist Union, Yamina's Naftali Bennett, and after three particularly ugly election campaigns, Gantz.

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The party dynamic exposed over the last 24 hours during which Gantz lost total control of Blue and White as three of its members refused his explicit request to abstain from the vote on postponing the deadline to pass the 2020 state budget has accompanied Blue and White ever since its formation and led to its slow but certain disintegration.

The first sign of this dynamic came just one week after the government was formed when Social Equality Minister Meirav Cohen said she had no faith in the prime minister. That is a statement that cannot be made by a sitting minister in Netanyahu's government who has collective responsibility for its decisions. This is a statement that in any other situation would have resulted in Cohen's immediate firing. But this was no ordinary situation, and Netanyahu did not have that authority. Gantz was the one who should have called her to order and explained a minister could not speak in this manner, but he never did.

Gantz, a gentle and optimistic man by nature, didn't once dare to call his party members who continuously sneered, mocked, and attacked the man at the government's head to order. On more than one occasion, he was even dragged into joining their attacks and voicing automatic opposition to Netanyahu's moves. Although they were all members of the prime minister's government, it was as if Blue and White was still in the middle of its anti-Netanyahu election campaign. One can blame the prime minister for bringing down the government and failing to honor agreements. That is all true. But it is Gantz who is responsible for getting us in this position in the first place. From the outset, he failed to control the members of his party. His lack of control over Blue and White was the main reason this government, and his party, have fallen apart.

It will not be easy for Netanyahu to manage the next election campaign. The coronavirus is still running rampant, and a third lockdown will be imposed for a few weeks. What good is talk of vaccines and peace agreements when commerce is shut down, children are stuck at home on Zoom, and everyone is at home, under pressure, depressed, and bored. Netanyahu would very much like to keep the lockdown out of his campaign and manage it against the background of final liberation from the pandemic until the great vaccination campaign comes to an end, sometime around Independence Day, which will fall on April 14. But this will happen before Passover, in late March, which is problematic. Three critical weeks could tip the scales in either direction.

Netanyahu saw how US President Donald Trump missed out on Pfizer's announcement on the efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine and did everything he could to ensure the same thing wouldn't happen to him. In the coming weeks, we'll see if he succeeded.

It is not just the pandemic that will make this election particularly challenging for Netanyahu. After three elections without a clear victor, there is no guarantee this one will result in a different outcome. For the time being, the right-wing bloc has pretty much fallen apart. And the demand for a rotation deal seems to have become something of a routine request for any partner necessary to form a coalition government.

Netanyahu needs to find himself the right opponent, and with a significant gap between the Likud party and all the rest, this won't be easy either. The challenge from the Right means Netanyahu will also contend with a campaign the likes of which he has yet to experience, with two significant parties, Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope and Yamina, attacking him from the Right, while on the Left, at least as things currently stand, there is a fairly large void and an absence of tension that will motivate voters to head to the ballot box.

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In a statement, Netanyahu said he had worked "tirelessly" to establish a unity government with his chief rival, former IDF Chief of Staff and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, but been repeatedly rebuffed.

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Facing a Wednesday deadline, Netanyahu said he was returning the mandate to President Reuven Rivlin, who will now ask Gantz to try to form a coalition. Gantz, however, could face an equally difficult task.

While Netanyahu remains at the helm of his Likud party, his announcement marked the second time this year that he has been unable to form a government. With Israel's attorney general set to decide in the coming weeks on whether to indict Netanyahu in a series of corruption cases, the longtime Israeli leader could come under heavy pressure to step aside. One party rival, Gideon Sa'ar, has already indicated he would challenge Netanyahu if the Likud holds a primary election.

In last month's national election, Netanyahu fell short of securing a 61-seat parliamentary majority. But Rivlin gave Netanyahu the first opportunity to form a government because he had more support – 55 lawmakers – than Gantz, who was supported by only 54.

Netanyahu had hoped to form a broad "unity" government with Gantz, who heads the center-left Blue and White party. But Netanyahu insisted that his coalition include his traditional allies, a collection of hardline and religious parties, drawing accusations from Gantz that he was not negotiating in good faith.

"Since I received the mandate, I have worked tirelessly both in public and behind the scenes to establish a broad, national unity government. That's what the people want," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"During the past few weeks, I made every effort to bring Benny Gantz to the negotiating table, every effort to establish a broad national unity government, every effort to prevent another election," he said. "To my regret, time after time he declined. He simply refused."

For Netanyahu, who marked his 70th birthday on Monday, it was another painful setback. In an earlier election in April, Netanyahu also failed to win a parliamentary majority and was forced to call the indecisive Sept. 17 election. Now, for the first time since Netanyahu was elected in early 2009, the country faces the possibility of choosing a different leader.

In a short statement, Gantz's Blue and White party said that "now is the time of action."

"Blue and White is determined to form the liberal unity government, led by Benny Gantz, that the people of Israel voted for a month ago," it said.

In contrast to Netanyahu, whose political career spans three decades, the 60-year-old Gantz is a newcomer who only burst onto the scene over the last year. At times, Gantz has criticized Netanyahu's handling of security issues, particularly in the Gaza Strip, and has touted his time as IDF chief of staff, when he oversaw 2014's Operation Protective Edge. He also has hinted at reviving the peace process with the Palestinians. But Gantz has been vague, apparently wary of alienating potential coalition partners, and focused most of his efforts at portraying himself as a fresh alternative to Netanyahu.

There is no guarantee, however, that Gantz will succeed.

He has expressed willingness to form a partnership with Likud, but not if Netanyahu continues to lead while he faces such serious legal problems. For the time being, Likud has remained steadfastly behind its leader.

Without Likud, Gantz will have a hard time securing a majority in parliament. The opposition to Netanyahu includes a diverse group of parties, ranging from Yisrael Beytenu to the Joint Arab List, that are unlikely to sit together in partnership.

If Gantz fails during his 28-day window, a majority of lawmakers could try to endorse a third candidate, something that has never happened before. And if that fails, the country would be forced into the unprecedented scenario of a third election in under a year.

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Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri on Friday called on members of Blue and White not to wait until the last minute to join a unity government and risk dragging the entire country into what he said would be an "election disaster."

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Speaking to Israel Hayom on Friday, Deri said, "I call on the heads of Blue and White – you were chiefs of staff, and you dedicated the majority of your lives to the security of the state – you know as well as I do that to ensure the security of the state and the security of the people of Israel, we need a strong government. I call on you, in the name of accountability to the people of Israel, to eliminate any political or other considerations."

According to Deri, "There is only one framework on the table, the president's framework. There is no other alternative other than an 'election disaster.' Let's get this over with immediately. It would be a shame to drag it on another month, or another few weeks."

The time President Reuven Rivlin allotted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the new government is expected to run out on Oct. 23, following the Simchat Torah holiday.

A senior official from the President's Residence in Jerusalem told Israel Hayom that "the assumption is that the mandate will be given to [Blue and White leader] Benny Gantz, and Netanyahu will not be given an extension unless another lawmaker is named by party leaders during the round of telephone consultation President Rivlin will hold."

Upon completing consultations with party heads as to who should be tasked with forming a government late last month,  Rivlin invited Netanyahu and Gantz to meet at his office. His goal: Advancing efforts toward the formation of a unity government between Blue and White and Likud. But when Blue and White opted not to take Rivlin up on his offer, the president made the decision to task Netanyahu with forming the government, giving him 28 days to this end.

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In a joint statement after the meeting, the sides said that negotiators would continue the talks Tuesday and that Rivlin had invited the two leaders back to meet with him on Wednesday evening.

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The president is responsible for choosing a candidate for prime minister after national elections. That task is usually a formality and is given to the leader who has the best chance of forming a stable majority coalition in the 120-seat parliament.

But last week's election ended in deadlock, with neither Netanyahu, who has ruled the country for the past decade, nor Gantz able to put together a coalition with smaller allied political parties. That has greatly complicated Rivlin's task. A unity deal between the large parties is seen as perhaps the only way out of the impasse.

"People expect you to find a solution and to prevent further elections, even if it comes at a personal and even ideological cost. This is not the time to exclude people." Rivlin told the two leaders.

In their joint statement, the two parties gave no details about Monday night's talks.

Netanyahu spoke with the heads of the nationalist camp by telephone following the meeting, reiterating that he was serving as a representative of the entire bloc in the talks.

Gantz later said that "there was much talk about unity," but that he would stick to his principles.

"The public has chosen change and we have no intention of relinquishing our lead, our principles, and our natural partners in this path," he said.

Rivlin has spent the past two days meeting with leaders of all parties elected to parliament.

Gantz's centrist Blue and White came in first, with 33 seats, trailed by Netanyahu's Likud, with 31. With smaller allied parties, a total of 55 lawmakers have thrown their support behind Netanyahu, and 54 in favor of Gantz, leaving both men short of the required 61-seat majority.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party, has emerged as the key power broker. Lieberman, who controls eight seats, has refused to endorse either candidate. He's demanded they join him in a broad, secular unity government.

Both Netanyahu and Gantz have expressed support for a unity deal between their parties. But there are deep, seemingly unbridgeable differences between them.

Gantz has said he will not partner with Likud as long as Netanyahu is at the helm, citing the prime minister's legal problems. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit has recommended charging Netanyahu with a series of corruption-related charges and is expected to make a final decision following a hearing with the prime minister early next month.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, believes he should remain at the helm of a unity government and has signed a deal with his smaller allies, including ultra-Orthodox parties, to negotiate as a "bloc."

Lieberman, a former ally of Netanyahu's, refuses to sit in a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties. In April, the Soviet-born politician refused to join Netanyahu's coalition following the election, triggered the Sept. 17 repeat vote. Lieberman objected to what he said was excessive influence by the religious parties, leaving Netanyahu without a majority and forcing him to call the new election.

Rivlin is expected by Wednesday to designate either Gantz or Netanyahu with the seemingly impossible task of trying to cobble together a government.

His choice will have up to six weeks to reach a deal with coalition partners. If he fails, Rivlin can choose another candidate for prime minister. If those efforts fail, the country could be forced into a third election.

During Rivlin's consultations, most parties made their expected recommendations: Nationalist and religious parties lined up behind Netanyahu's Likud, while two more centrist parties sided with Gantz despite his military background.

In a break from custom, the Joint Arab List endorsed Gantz, the first time they had recommended a candidate since 1992.

Arab leaders said the decision was aimed at toppling Netanyahu, whose rhetoric has offended the country's Arab minority, as well as expressing their growing political influence.

The Arab public makes up about 20% of Israel's population.

But on Monday, three Arab lawmakers from the Balad party said they were withdrawing their recommendations for Gantz, trimming his support to below Netanyahu's.

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Numerous politicians from across the political spectrum commented on the incident, which was broadcast live on the Likud's Facebook page and later removed. Blue and White party leader and former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi took to Twitter after the sirens were sounded to say, "We don't run. We are committed, and we are here, carrying on with a conference in Ashkelon as usual. We are not afraid, not of Hamas and not of Hezbollah."

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The No. 4 on Yemina's list, former Education Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted, "This is a national humiliation."

Government ministers from the Likud were busy responding to the attacks on Netanyahu.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said, "He has to obey the orders of the Shin Bet security agency and must be evacuated to a safe room, he has no discretion. I, personally, as a figure with a security detail, asked to remain at the conference, but I was met with an outright refusal and was escorted with the prime minister."

Katz continued, "It may be that Hamas is joining Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and the Iranian axis when it wants to harm Netanyahu's chances of being elected. The public knows that there is a bold and assertive policy on Iran and its emissaries. And we know how to stabilize all of the fronts, including [the] Gaza [Strip]."

Meanwhile, on its Facebook page, the Likud party blasted Blue and White, calling the party's attacks on Netanyahu "the low point of the elections: Three former IDF chiefs of staff rejoicing over fire [being directed] at Israel's prime minister. Shame!"

In an interview with Army Radio, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said Netanyahu "in a responsible manner, asks the audience to quietly evacuate to a fortified room and then evacuates himself. Ashkenazi stands haughtily in front of a sizable crowd and declares, 'There's no need to evacuate.' So who will you trust to protect your children?"

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"I am not doing this campaign to find favor, and for the Right to say, 'They're so nice. What humanists. How sweet,'" Democratic Union leader Nitzan Horowitz tells me when I ask whether the party has gone too far and whether there is any risk that the style and some of the content of his party's campaign could antagonize voters.

"I am running an aggressive and combative campaign because it's a campaign. You use it to fight. It's a boxing ring. The Right and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu have never met a trick they didn't like. And believe me, our public also really likes that we are going out and fighting and sticking it to them."

Q: Some will say you have become the students of Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump; you have demarcated an enemy. Take, for example, Meretz's campaign against religification, among many sectors, it has already come to be seen as a caricature of itself.

"It doesn't go far enough. … When I see the extent of the problem that exists in the education system, I see the sense among the secular public on these issues, I am telling you that this is actually too refined a campaign. When a minister in the government, who is also a member of the cabinet, [United Right's Bezalel] Smotrich says that the state should be governed according to Jewish law, and we need to go back to the days of King David, do you know what that means? That means that women in [Israeli] society will have no legal standing. That means that half of the population will not have any rights, let alone those who aren't Jewish."

"These are not just declarations, unfortunately. In schools, there are hundreds of instances, and we receive reports that bring in so-called issues of modesty in children's attire, that want girls not to wear shorts that are too short, that bring in religious content to the schoolbooks in fields that are irrelevant to religion, like math or English. I respect religious people, my father is a religious man. I have nothing against them. I have a problem with coercion and with them taking an audience captive, like children in school or soldiers in an army unit, and forcing this on them. And when we come out against it, we are accused of anti-Semitism."

According to Horowitz, "When we call to separate religion from politics, that means from the state systems, like the education system, government institutions – these should not be connected to religion and religious elements. In a situation of religious freedom and freedom from religion, there is freedom for everyone, including for the religious, but also freedom for me."

"Let me give you an example: public transportation on Shabbat, something this government has blocked – including [Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor] Lieberman, who time and again voted with the coalition and with the haredim against all these proposals. He was also against civil marriage and LGBT rights. Now, in this last campaign, he has discovered secularism and has become the knight of the secular [population]. That just shows you how stressed and worried people are by the issue. I think it scares the majority of Israel's population, and I see the responses that we get."

Horowitz was elected the leader of the Meretz party in June, and around a month later, he joined forces with former Prime Minister Barak and Shaffir to establish the Democratic Union. But what at first looked like a game-changer for the Left is now slowly approaching the modest scope typical of Meretz, at least according to the polls.

Q: With a month's perspective, is Barak an asset or a liability?

"He is an excellent addition to the campaign. He is unusually eloquent and he is fascinating. Tons of people ask to invite him to events and conferences because he just gives the most impressive performance. And that is not just rhetorical ability but based on experience and a very impressive intellect. The man was prime minister and defense minister and chief of staff – the most decorated soldier in the IDF."

Q: Yes, but there is a cloud hanging over him, in the form of his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"He has addressed these things himself and in a very forceful manner. But you know, when you put this talk opposite what we are up against, which is Netanyahu and the investigations and the allegations – and it's not just Netanyahu, it's a whole other series of figures in the government, then I think it doesn't compare. And let's be clear, unlike Netanyahu or [Shas party leader Aryeh] Deri, or Likud MK David Bitan [who is under investigation for bribery], or [recently resigned Welfare Minister] Haim Katz, Ehud Barak has not only not been accused or suspected of anything, he has not been under investigation and no complaint has been filed against him. … It's all just affairs, the majority of which, I'm telling you, they are making up and blowing out of proportion because of the campaign. Our public isn't impressed."

Q: All of the stories coming out of there, they don't bother you at all?

"The future of democracy in the state worries our public much more, and Ehud Barak is one of the most forceful and piercing speakers on this matter today."

Q: Then why is he in the 10^th slot on the party list?

"That was his choice. Because he said, 'I am not setting myself up as a leader, but I want this alliance. I want this chance to create a more significant Left, and that is why I am willing to step back. I will be the one who connects, who brings [new people to the party]."

Q: So there's no concern you might squander away what former Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg managed to achieve with Arab voters in the last election?

"You would be surprised how many requests we get from Arab communities that want to host Barak at conferences and in their homes, from Bedouins in the south to communities in the north."

Q: So it's just a myth that Barak is very unpopular among members of Arab society as a result of the deaths of 13 Israeli Arabs during the Oct. 13 riots in 2000 that marked the outbreak of the Second Intifada?

"Barak spoke about this in a very serious manner, especially since this was 20 years ago. Jews and Arabs see what we offer on the issues that matter to them. I think that this is the focus, and not the things that once were, which are unfortunate and difficult, no doubt. If we look forward, on the subject of equality and the struggle against racism, the Democratic Union is the leading list."

Q: Bringing Barak on board, giving Shaffir and former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan the first spots behind you on the list, aren't you taking something of a gamble at Meretz's expense here?

"The opposite is true. It has only increased our power. … We made a move to connect [with other parties] in order to bring in additional communities and make it to the election with totally different numbers, without any gevalt [campaign] and without stories about the electoral threshold."

Q: But you started off in a great position, with 10 to 12 potential seats, and you have only been losing seats since then.

"Three years ago, I was the TV correspondent for the election in the US. For a year, all of the polls indicated there would be a crushing victory for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, and something entirely different happened. You need to examine what it is you care about, what is important to you here in the state: for there to be freedom, peace, equality, or religification, racism, coercion? You need to vote with this in mind. Parties that are not ideological and lack values disappear. We have had all kinds of centrist parties that have been established and received dozens of Knesset seats and simply disappeared later – like soap bubbles – without a trace. And look, although Meretz over the years has never been a giant party, it has left a deep mark on Israeli society. It's not just a matter of size; it's a matter of fighting spirit and the values you believe in. That is what we are trying to do with the Democratic Union, and that is in complete contrast to a party like Blue and White, which is failing."

Q: You call 35 Knesset seats and some polls predicting Blue and White will overtake the Likud "failing?"

"It lacks a fighting spirit; it's failing. It is now supposedly the opposition in the Knesset, right? So in the few tests there have been, for instance with the appointment of the state comptroller, they failed. Even on the issue of the dissolution of the Knesset, they didn't make the necessary effort to prevent it. And when I see the dereliction, the complacency, the smugness, then I think there needs to be a far more biting, kicking and aggressive alternative; one where you know we will fight. We won't go to sleep the day after."

Q: So, what's the plan? To motivate Blue and White?

"It's a shame they haven't motivated themselves. I shouldn't have to motivate them. I motivate us, the Democratic Union. And we will watch them in the Knesset, to make sure that they don't wander too far to the Right. A majority of their voters are center-left voters – Labor and Meretz. The Zionist Union was 24 [Knesset seats], went down to six. All of its voters went over to Blue and White, even a small portion of Meretz [voters] went over to them. They need to understand that a vote for Blue and White is a vote for the Right, plain and simple. They are already saying it now; they are declaring that they want to join the Right [in a coalition government], that is why they are actually misleading their voters, a majority of whom are center-left."

"I care about the center-left votes, which should go to a party like ours, a party that fights for these principles of equality, freedom, peace, and not a party that will sell out for an alliance with the Right."

Q: What about the Labor-Gesher alliance? Their members haven't ruled out the possibility of joining a Likud government.

"I made a great deal of effort to join Meretz with the Labor party, and I discovered that at the same time as he was negotiating with us, [Labor leader] Amir Peretz was engaged in negotiations with [Gesher party chief] Orly Levy-Abekasis, who left Yisrael Beytenu. Amir, in essence, abandoned the peace camp and our bloc, and I say this with great sadness – turned his back on us, on those who should have been his natural partners, for an alliance with the Right."

"We had an opportunity to establish a large left-wing party, which could garner around 20 Knesset seats. Those who want left-wing values – not just society and economy, but also the diplomatic issue and the separation of religion from politics, this can now only be found in the Democratic Union. We are the only list that focuses on diplomatic, issues, perhaps outside of Netanyahu from the other direction, who announced there would be an annexation while in Elkana."

"The Labor party has folded up this flag, which at one time was its principle flag. A lot of people from the Labor party are now coming over to us, a lot of people who were disappointed by the direction that Amir Peretz is taking [the party], and by the abandonment of entire fields that are at the core of left-wing values."

Q: I understand what you are saying about Peretz and Blue and White, but I what I see on their part is a willingness to concede a little bit on ideology in order to form a national unity government through which they can bring their agenda to the government table.

"If you are center-left, if you adhere to a certain ideology and you enter politics to promote it, to represent a public that believes in that [ideology], and then the next day, you take all that, throw it in the garbage and go and join Netanyahu, someone whose policies are all too known, [what does that say]?"

"We need to once again ask Blue and White and the Labor party: Whose side are you on?"

Q: But how feasible is the other option? It's not like there will be some deus ex machina that will grant another 20 Knesset seats to the Left.

"No, but the fact is that Netanyahu didn't succeed in forming a government in the last election. We will make every effort, and the bigger we are, the [greater the] chance that Blue and White will move in our direction and there will be a center-left government. That's all there is to it. They're already saying that their stated and perhaps only goal is to go with the Right, with the Likud. To our mind, that isn't change; it's voter fraud."

Q: When one looks at your campaign and your insistence on not joining a national unity government, a Likud-led government, and given the campaign against religification, I assume a government with haredim, that sends the message to me as a voter that it's not governing but fighting that you're interested in.

"You're wrong. First of all, as a right-wing voter, we are not addressing you. We are addressing the center-left voters that want a party that will first and foremost represent them and fight for them. And yes, our aspiration certainly is to join the government. You want me to ask, what will carry more weight, ideology or practicality? Pragmatism or ideas?"

Q: Isn't that the question one asks an ideologue in politics? We are in an election campaign. It's realpolitik.

"To my mind, there is no major contradiction between ideology and practicality. If you work correctly, you can integrate your ideology with practical leadership in order to amass more power. Those who vote for us know … what we will fight for. I hope that that will draw people who in the last election voted for Blue and White, who are our people and need to come home. With us, we don't take what people believe in and after the election, toss it in the garbage to get some, I don't know, job in the Likud. People need to understand that. In this election, it's their choice."

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"Blue and White has decided to focus on taking votes away from the Labor party and other parties in the center-left camp," former Knesset Deputy Speaker and Labor Party secretary Hilik Bar told JNS.

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Within the past two months, Blue and White, which counts three former generals among its top four positions, tried to woo right-wing voters based on their security credentials. Bar explained that this has largely failed and that the party's leaders realized that they cannot bring voters over from the Right.

Instead, he said their focus now is to try to become the larger party by appealing to center-left voters in the hope that this will lead President Reuven Rivlin to task their leader, Benny Gantz, to form the government.

"Blue and White will fail in their attempt to drain votes from Labor," said Bar.

Bar went as far as calling on those traditional Labor supporters who voted for Blue and White in the April election to return to their political home. He argued that "Blue and White is just a temporary party, which will disappear just like Kadima and others. But the Labor party, which founded the State of Israel, will always exist."

Bar said the Labor Party will likely go on the offensive against Blue and White, pointing out to voters that they are a party without an ideology, and that they are better off staying with Labor.

Blue and White has similarly shifted its strategy to targeting secular voters.

This past week, Gantz, who had been reaching out to the ultra-Orthodox population, including through visits to their communities and not speaking out against them, announced that the government he formed would be "a secular government." It was a clear message he prefers not to include the ultra-Orthodox parties in a coalition he would form. This change of direction reflects an attempt to become the largest party by drawing votes away from Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party, which according to the polls, is predicted to double its number of Knesset seats thanks to his attacks on the ultra-Orthodox parties.

Gantz was immediately subjected to sharp attacks from ultra-Orthodox leadership for the move.

When asked for comment about Gantz's plan to form a "secular government," Shas Knesset member Yakov Margi, who also serves as chairman of the Knesset education committee, told JNS, "such a government will not be established." The ultra-Orthodox political leadership believes that Gantz has no path to a Knesset majority without the ultra-Orthodox parties, and therefore, the promise of a "secular government" is simply a ploy to try to win more votes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has similarly focused their attention on trying to be the largest party by taking votes away from Yamina, the party to their Right led by former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. To counter this, Shaked and others in her party have gone on the offensive, telling voters that if they don't vote for Yamina, which has been predicted to win very few Knesset seats, Netanyahu will turn to the Left to form a government.

Likud may also need to contend with the far-right Otzma Yehudit party. According to one recent poll, Otzma Yehudit is predicted to pass the 3.25% electoral threshold, earning four seats in the next Knesset. Until recently, Likud had been pressuring the party to drop out of the race, but if the party were to somehow pass the electoral threshold, it could be an important boost for Netanyahu, giving him the 61 seats needed for a governing coalition. It could also, however, prove problematic due to their more hard-line views.

While Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir told JNS, "There is a very good chance that we will cross the threshold," he said that his party would not automatically join a Netanyahu government.

Aside from his demand to be made a minister before joining a coalition, Ben-Gvir said, "Netanyahu would have to accept important components of the party platform, including capital punishment for terrorists, harsher conditions for terrorists in Israeli prisons, and a stronger response to Hamas rocket and balloon/kite fire from Gaza."

As the campaign enters its final week, and the parties shift direction and change their messaging in a final push to win more votes, one thing remains certain: No one knows how this election will end and what kind of government will emerge.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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As things currently stand, police officers at polling stations are tasked with maintaining public order. But in recent days, it appears the Central Elections Committee has reached an agreement with the Israel Police that would see officers at the polling stations able to exercise discretion and authority in cases where there are allegations of voter fraud.

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According to a senior Likud official, the forging of votes is "when, for example, at a specific polling station, we see voter turnout is only at 35%, and then toward the evening, they start to deposit ballots and erase voters' names. We have seen cases like that. The problem is that until today, the police hasn't intervened. And even after the elections, when complaints were filed, nothing was done about it."

He noted, "There is a representative of the Israel Police in the election committee, and we will apparently reach an agreement that will see the police at the polling stations receive orders to immediately intervene in cases where there is a suspicion of forgery."

Meanwhile, the High Court of Justice has dismissed a petition filed by the Blue and White party and attorney Shahar Ben Meir on Thursday against the legislation of a bill allowing cameras to be installed in polling stations on the grounds of "non-exhaustion of proceedings. In its ruling, the court noted that it "does not intervene in legislative proceedings while they are underway."

"Even if the petitioners are of the opinion that the legislative procedures for amending the Knesset election law are being initiated by the executive branch in a hurry, there was no reason to rush the petition. Of course, if and when the legislative proceedings are completed, the petitioners will have all of their claims preserved," and the court's doors will remain open to them.

In its petition, submitted by party member Avi Nissenkorn, the Blue and White party asserted that "as this is a transitional government, the government must adopt policies of restraint in exercising its powers, including the promotion of legislative initiatives."

On Twitter, Blue and White party leader Yair Lapid wrote, "Don't get confused. Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] doesn't really want cameras at the polling stations." Instead, Lapid alleged Netanyahu was just gearing up for a campaign that would accuse the Arabs of election forgery.

Netanyahu, for his part, took to Facebook to respond to Blue and White's petition.

"I heard that [Blue and White leaders Benny] Gantz and Lapid intend to challenge our intention to pass a law that allows cameras at the polling stations. What do they have to hide? … How can they explain this? Cameras are the best guarantee that the election won't be stolen. Cameras prevent the stealing of the election, and I understand that they apparently want there to be forgeries and for the election to be stolen. Because there is no other explanation. Because there are cameras in every supermarket and every hospital."

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin of the Likud party blasted the judiciary, saying, "This is a real scandal. Look at the hypocrisy: The heads of the judiciary's job it is to look out for the integrity and equality [of the election], and instead of them initiating the move to install the cameras and demanding that it happens in order to ensure there are no forgeries, they are fighting us and doing everything to allow the forgers to forge."

Levin said, "They are doing this with the clear knowledge that this is the situation, because [Central Elections Committee Chairman] Justice [Hanan] Meltzer himself determined that there are instances of suspicions of fraud. They justify this with the 'constitutional right to privacy.' We live in a world where, at the entrance to the supermarket, you are filmed to prevent theft. So in elections, in an open process, they allow people to steal."

Netanyahu spokesman Jonatan Urich told Israel Radio that "we have discovered in recent days a significant scope of forgery in the election. Forgery, which, had it been checked, would more than likely have shown that [the] Balad [party] would not have passed the election threshold, the New Right would have passed, and the right-wing bloc would have 61 Knesset seats."

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Since the creation of the state, no Arab party has ever recommended a Jewish candidate for prime minister or sat in a ruling coalition. Yet, with neither Israel's right- or left-wing blocs able to secure a coalition following the previous election, Arab party mandates would represent a significant boost to the left should they break their longstanding tradition of remaining outside the government.

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Yet such an alliance remains unlikely. Blue and White No. 3 and former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said that "as long as the Arab parties do not accept Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, Blue and White cannot sit with them in a government."

Odeh, for his part, poised four conditions for entering a Blue and White-led government.

"The first," said Odeh, "is the construction of a new Arab city and redoing the rules to allow for more Arab construction and stopping demolitions in Arab areas."

The second condition, he said, was "governmental focus on fighting crime in Arab areas, including an operation to gather all the illegal weapons in the Arab population. Third is in the welfare realm, including building a public hospital in an Arab city and raising stipends for the elderly."

The last condition was "direct negotiations with the Palestinian leaders to bring an end to the occupation and to establish a Palestinian state, alongside canceling the nation-state law."

"I want to lead Arab politics from a politics of protest to a politics of influence," said Odeh. "We are 20% of Israel's population and we are needed to bring equality, democracy and social justice to Israel."

The most problematic of these conditions for Blue and White would likely be the last. The nation-state law, passed by the Knesset in 2018, sets in law that Israel is "the national home of the Jewish people." Blue and White has talked about "correcting" the law to make sure it emphasizes equality for all of Israel's citizens, but they do not favor repealing it completely.

Gantz, who is also a former IDF chief of staff, stressed that his party's sights are not on negotiations with the Arab parties, saying, "We are calling for a unity government" and clarifying that such a coalition would include "anyone who is sane and Zionist."

Even if Blue and White found a way to accept the Joint List's conditions, polls currently indicate the left would still need the help of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party to secure a 61-MK majority needed to form a government.

Yet MK Oded Forer of Yisrael Beiteinu told JNS that "there is zero chance we would join a government which includes the Arab parties."

Forer's statement makes it extremely unlikely that the Joint Arab List would ever be invited into a Blue and White-led coalition.

Ironically, the greatest impact of Odeh's dramatic announcement could actually be a boost to the Likud party.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin told JNS that a potential alliance between Blue and White and the Arab parties may ultimately bring more votes to the Likud party, boosting Netanyahu's chances of winning the election.

"Now it's official and the truth has come to light," said Levin. "Ayman Odeh's declaration proves what we have been saying all along: Gantz and [Blue and White co-leader Yair Lapid] are planning to form a government with the Arab parties."

Levin issued a warning to all voters: "A vote for Blue and White or a vote for Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party is a vote for Ayman Odeh as education minister and Ahmed Tibi for public security minister."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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