Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not break up his right-wing bloc to include Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz and didn’t need to send a message to his political partners on the matter because “it’s obvious,” a Likud source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Gantz had made a proposal to form a temporary “hostage redemption government” during a press conference on Saturday evening. He called on Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), and Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) to join forces with him.
While Netanyahu did not respond directly to the offer, KAN News reported on Sunday evening that the Prime Minister’s Office had sent a message to Netanyahu’s political partners telling them he wouldn’t break up his bloc.
“There’s no need to convey such a message because it’s obvious and self-evident” that Netanyahu won’t break up the bloc for Gantz, the Likud source told the Post.
The Likud source emphasized that even before Gantz’s press conference, Netanyahu’s position was clear, stating that “Gantz is invited without conditions if he so wishes, without any change to the coalition’s composition, and with an effort to bring back the haredi [ultra-Orthodox] partners.”
The two haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, left the government in July due to the fallout in negotiations regarding the controversial haredi conscription law proposal.
When asked if there was any chance that Gantz’s temporary government proposal would stand at all, the source explained that “a coalition agreement is usually finalized first, and only after that, is it announced in the media.”
“If it starts in the media, it’s usually a spin,” the source said. Both Lapid and Liberman outwardly rejected Gantz’s proposal.
Opposition MKs reject Gantz's proposal
NATIONAL SECURITY Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson told the Post on Monday that Ben-Gvir is concerned Netanyahu would see Gantz as a convenient partner and would want him to join the government.
This has led Ben-Gvir to attempt “to build an axis within Likud” with the aim of blocking Gantz’s inclusion, and he has spoken to ministers and Knesset members to side against Gantz, the spokesperson added.
The development comes after the Sunday KAN report said coalition members expressed concern that Gantz’s entry to the government would allow Netanyahu to move forward on a hostage deal and to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
Lapid said on Monday that “there was no need” to sit in a government with Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, because his opposition party was still offering Netanyahu a “safety net” to support the government in reaching a hostage deal.
Liberman slammed Gantz’s proposal, calling it a “pitiful show” and a “waste of time,” during a KAN Reshet Bet interview on Sunday. His party also claimed that Gantz’s move was “a spin.”
Gantz addressed anticipated criticism of the move and dismissed claims that his initiative was politically motivated during the Saturday night press conference. He said that the proposal was solely for the purpose of rescuing the hostages and not to “save Netanyahu.”
Gantz has entered two unity governments under Netanyahu in the past. The last time was after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. However, Gantz then left the coalition due to disagreements with the prime minister, claiming that Netanyahu was preventing Israel from “moving forward to a real victory” in the war.
Gantz’s proposal listed primary goals that the government would focus on, which included securing the release of hostages and passing the controversial haredi draft law. His proposal also included moving elections up to take place after the objectives were complete in the spring, rather than in October 2026 as is currently scheduled.