Blue & White party chairman, MK Benny Gantz, appealed to the heads of all the Knesset factions after receiving the presidential mandate to form a coalition government. Gantz wants all the parties to realize that he is willing to make difficult decisions as he has done throughout his career, telling his elected colleagues that he will do everything he can to avoid going to yet a third round of elections.

Gantz has already encountered his first major stumbling block, perhaps not an unexpected one, as the heads of the right-wing parties including Ayelet Shaked, Yaakov Litzman, Moshe Gafne and Aryeh Deri already announced they remain loyal to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who remains their selected candidate to form a government. They further explained they will not enter into negotiations with Blue & White, but will permit Netanyahu to represent them, and only if there is progress towards bringing Likud into a coalition will they consider following such a lead.

Their decision places control over the right-wing/religious/chareidi bloc of 55 seats.

Shas Chairman Minister Aryeh Deri announced publicly that his party remains loyal to Netanyahu and will only become a coalition member as a bloc, with him.

There are reports quoting “senior officials in Blue & White” having realized that the number two person on the list, MK Yair Lapid, who chairs the Yesh Atid faction, is the major stumbling block to bringing the chareidim on board, as they have proclaimed numerous times they will not enter into a coalition that includes Lapid, citing his tenacious opposition to their religious lifestyle.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)