Leading Israeli opposition figure MK Benny Gantz said on Monday that he would not rule out joining a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu remaining at the helm.
“It’s time to abandon the ‘anybody but Bibi’ idea and shift to ‘anybody but extremists’. We must stop the brewing civil war; we’re close to a situation where someone could die here,” the Blue and White Party head told Channel 12 News.
“I won’t give Netanyahu the 61st vote,” he said, referring to tipping the scales toward a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. “I never have. Every time I joined his government it was because there was no choice—always despite Netanyahu, not on behalf of Netanyahu.”
The former Israeli defense minister and Israel Defense Forces chief appeared to confirm a Channel 12 report on Sunday that he is seeking a unity government with Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman under Netanyahu’s leadership. In conversations with undecided voters, he has reportedly said the goal is to win, but that “in the end, in a democracy, decisions are made at the ballot box.”
In the interview, Gantz said that if Netanyahu secures a 61-seat coalition, he will urge opposition leader Yair Lapid, Liberman and Gadi Eisenkot to join him in forming a unity government.
Gantz also criticized his bloc members, saying, “They want to win the civil war; I want to prevent it. To hate Bibi more than you love the country, to sit on the sidelines shouting instead of driving change—that’s weakness. I handed Bennett and Lapid a government on a silver platter, even though I could have been prime minister. They lost it. The responsibility is theirs.”
During the interview, Gantz ruled out forming a minority government dependent on Arab parties.
“After Oct. 7, that is impossible,” he said. “You can’t make fateful decisions about Israel’s security that way. I won’t sit in a government with people who just yesterday shouted, ‘Gaza will win.’”
He went on to say, “We will take care of the Arab community, which is an integral part of Israeli society, but you can’t base the government on them. The Arab parties cannot be the ones deciding whether we go to war or not.”
Democrats Party leader Yair Golan responded harshly to Gantz’s remarks, saying, “I believe and hope that no one in the change camp has lost their mind enough to sit with Netanyahu again.”
