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Likud, Blue and White negotiators meet for coalition talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Blue and White head Benny Gantz on Sunday, with Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Lieberman following a day later.

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, then Israel's tourism minister, arrives at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan for a meeting, on Oct. 27, 2019. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/Flash90.
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, then Israel’s tourism minister, arrives at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan for a meeting, on Oct. 27, 2019. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/Flash90.

Negotiators from the Likud and Blue and White parties met on Sunday for the first time since Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was given the mandate by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to form a government, according to a Ynet report.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and attorney Michael Ravillo attended on the Likud side, while Yoram Turbovitz and Shalom Shlomo spoke on behalf of Blue and White. The meeting was held at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also set to meet Blue and White head Gantz on Sunday in Tel Aviv, reported i24 News. The Blue and White leader is then set to meet Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman on Monday.

If Gantz is unable to form a government within 28 days of being granted the mandate to do so, the Knesset will have the authority for 21 days to propose a prime ministerial candidate to the president. If no government results, a third election will be automatically initiated.

“There’s no reason that the process can’t be dramatically accelerated,” Dan Schnur, a political science lecturer, told JNS.
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