Blue & White: We Accept People’s Decision, Will Fight Bibi from Opposition
By Staff, Agencies
Without explicitly conceding, the leaders of Blue & White, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, announced in a press conference on Wednesday that the alliance had "accepted the people's decision" while vowing to turn the “Israeli” parliament into a "battlefield".
Lapid acknowledged that Blue & White had not won the elections but promised to continue fighting “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We are not just going to the opposition, we are going to get ready for the next round. We did not come here to end the 2019 campaign. We came to open the 2020 campaign,” Lapid said, adding that they will turn the "Knesset into a battleground.”
“In the opposition we will embitter the government’s life. The days are over when the opposition just tried to crawl into the government."
The Blue & White co-leader also promised to demand an investigation into Netanyahu's alleged link to a corruption case involving submarines dubbed "Case 3000".
Gantz, who spoke after Lapid, said Blue & White had offered a “real alternative to the government” applauding the more than one million people who voted for the alliance.
“This is unprecedented and tells us how much of an expectation there is among people. They are looking for a different way, a different language,” Gantz said.
The press conference came as it became increasingly clear that Netanyahu was poised for a sure victory. Earlier on Wednesday, Gantz issued an optimistic message despite the “overcast skies” of his imminent electoral defeat.
With 97.4% of the votes counted, Likud and Blue & White were positioned neck-and-neck, with their voter % translating into 35-seats each in the 21st Knesset. However, with nearly all of the right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties signaling their intention to recommend Netanyahu for the premiership; and with a diminished left of center bloc emerging, Gantz’s ability to forge a viable coalition was significantly curtailed.
The right-wing parties collectively garnered 30 seats whilst the four left wing and Arab parties combined, only 20. Netanyahu therefore has the capacity for form a right-wing coalition with 65 seats.
Whilst it seems like an unlikely scenario given Gantz’s previous refusal to sit in a unity government with the premier, in theory Netanyahu could invite his main challenger centrist Blue and White to add its 35 seats to his coalition.
As “Israeli” settlers in occupied al-Quds [Jerusalem] appeared to overwhelmingly support Netanyahu, Tel Aviv settlers came out for Gantz.
Described by “Israeli” voters as a “dirty” election campaign, the run-up to the vote has been characterized by divisive political rhetoric centered on mudslinging between Netanyahu and his rival Gantz. From the outset, the ruling Likud party sought to brand Gantz as a “leftist” in disguise, seized on Iran's alleged hacking of his phone as a sign that he posed a security risk; and went as far as too brand the ex-general "mentally unstable" and unfit to serve.
For many on the left and center (and even some on the right) of the political spectrum, Gantz represented, for the first time in years a real chance at enacting a political change in the “Israeli” entity. From the high-cost of living to the ongoing corruption scandals embroiling Netanyahu, many have become increasingly disillusioned with the status quo.
