No talks set as coalition deadline approaches

An agreement must be reached by Wednesday night at midnight to prevent the Knesset from dispersing itself automatically.

By GIL HOFFMAN
A Likud party election campaign billboard depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen above a billboard depicting Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, in Petah Tikva, Israel (photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)
A Likud party election campaign billboard depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen above a billboard depicting Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, in Petah Tikva, Israel
(photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and their parties’ coalition negotiating teams will all be at the Knesset on Monday, but sources close to them all said there would be no negotiations to end the political quagmire.
An agreement must be reached by Wednesday at midnight to prevent the Knesset from dispersing itself automatically. If no MK obtains the support of a majority of the Knesset to form a government by then, Israelis will go to the polls for the third time in under a year.
“In the three days that are left, there is still hope that we can avoid an unnecessary election,” Gantz told the Makor Rishon conference in Jerusalem. “But it will not happen through political spin about changing the voting technique, which would only bring us back to this same mess. We need to avoid an election out of a real sense of responsibility. That is why I will make every effort to avoid this election, informed by the values that I hold dear while not abandoning my basic principles.”
But in the same speech Gantz attacked Netanyahu, saying “It is wrong to forgive corruption for political opportunities,” and lamenting that the prime minister said the word “I” nearly 60 times at the same conference earlier on Sunday.
Netanyahu also spoke about the possibility of avoiding an election, but said for that to happen, “Gantz would have to prevail over [his No. 2, Yair] Lapid, or [Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor] Liberman would have to prevail over Liberman.”
KAN Radio reported on Sunday morning that more than half of the party’s 33 MKs would back enabling Netanyahu to remain prime minister for five more months to prevent an election. But sources in Blue and White said there is no real dispute in the party, and even those seen as favoring compromise, like MK Gabi Ashkenazi, would not take steps to bring it about.
“Nothing is happening, and there will be no independent pressure from Gabi,” a source in Blue and White said.
Netanyahu asked coalition ministers and MKs to cancel their trips abroad this week in order to be present for votes on dispersing the Knesset.
The only politician still working actively and openly to prevent the election is Shas leader Arye Deri, who met with Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday, and is expected to meet with Gantz in a last-ditch effort to bring about a unity government.
The head of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), told the conference that if Israel goes to another election, the country will face “an economic holocaust.”