JERUSALEM, Oct 28 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, met on Sunday and discussed a possible unity government, amidst post-election deadlock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, by Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, and Gantz’s centrist Blue and White, the parties said that the two leaders “had discussed existing political possibilities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They agreed to meet again and to schedule more meetings of the negotiation teams of their parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of the meeting, Netanyahu called for “a broad national unity government,” citing security issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Middle East is again in upheaval,” Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting. “We must make tough decisions that require a government with broad shoulders,” he said, referring mainly to Israel’s struggle against Iran’s entrenchment in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson with Blue and White said that, Netanyahu insists on including a right-wing bloc of 55 lawmakers from pro-settler and ultra-Orthodox parties, making it impossible to form a coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Gantz and Netanyahu said, they wish to form a unity government, but they are divided over who should lead it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blue and White party vowed in its election campaign, not to sit in government under Netanyahu, who is a suspect in at least three criminal corruption cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel’s political system has been paralysed since the closely-fought election on Sept 17, in which no party won enough votes to form a majority coalition, in the 120-seat parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elections were the second time Israelis cast their votes in five months. Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government, following the Apr election, which led to the second election in Sept.– NNN-MA’AN <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM, Oct 28 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, met on Sunday and discussed a possible unity government, amidst post-election deadlock. In a joint statement issued after the meeting, by Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, and Gantz’s centrist Blue and White, the parties said that the two leaders “had discussed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[300,217,194],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47971"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}