Six months since the Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz got into a power sharing agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, the coalition appears to have collapsed. On Wednesday, Gantz and his party voted in favour of dissolving the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, with the stage set for talks now that, if leading nowhere, will lead to Israel having its fourth election in less than two years.
A bill to dissolve the Knesset was passed 61-54. It must now go through the Legislative Committee and pass three more readings before new elections can be called.
“The dissolution of the Knesset is not a victory, it’s the first step toward a different government, which will deal with the coronavirus and the economy and won’t cause Israelis to hate each other,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who proposed the measure, tweeted after the bill was passed.
The vote comes a day after Alternate Prime Minister and Defence Minister Benny Gantz said that his Kahol and Lavan (Blue & White) party will vote in favour of the bill accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of consistently "misleading" the public over the budget issue to serve his own political ends.
In a last ditch attempt to avoid polls, Gantz again extended a lifeline to Netanyahu urging him to approve a two-year budget as was agreed upon in the coalition deal in order to avoid another election.
"If Netanyahu approves the budget, everything will work out," he said, adding, "anything that prevents elections is a welcome thing. The best solution is for this budget to be passed and for this government to continue to function."
The Blue & White party has been accusing Netanyahu of breaking a coalition agreement to safeguard his own interests. Party members have recently accused the Premier of never having the intent to honour the rotation agreement according to which Gantz was to take over as the Prime Minister after 18 months in November 2020.
The ruling Likud party in turn attacked the Blue & White party and the Opposition for voting in favour of the dissolution and imposing an “unnecessary election" on the country.
"The only common denominator between opposition parties and Kahol Lavan is their aspiration to hurt Netanyahu's tenure," coalition whip Miki Zohar of the Likud party said, adding that the anti-Netanyahu camp has "no achievements and no ideology".
Both Likud and the Blue & White party have 35 seats each in the parliament. Multiple rounds of talks between both sides have failed to yield a long-term alliance, leading to a shaky coalition. One point of disagreement has been the Middle East peace plan brokered by US president Donald Trump—while Netanyahu is in favour of the plan as is, Gantz reportedly seeks to hold peace talks with the Palestinians.
With inputs from PTI
