Israel's Likud and Blue & White parties resumed coalition talks Monday evening, after Blue & White leader Benny Gantz announced that he intended to declare his efforts to form a coalition had failed. Gantz's allotted time to do so expires at midnight.
The point of contention remains judicial appointments which would ultimately decide the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political and legal future after he was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
President Reuven Rivlin told Gantz on Sunday that he would not extend his mandate for another two weeks and that if an agreement is not reached between the two parties and no other MK wins the support of 61 of the 120 lawmakers in that time, the mandate will go back to the Knesset, which then has another 21 days for another MK to drum up the necessary backing. If such a candidate is named, that person then has 14 days to put together a stable coalition.
Earlier in the day, the head of Telem party that used to be part of Blue & White had urged Gantz to cut off unity government talks with Netanyahu and rebuild the center-left faction.
Moshe Ya'alon's Telem and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid left Blue & White after Gantz opted to run as a Knesset speaker in a gesture of goodwill to Netanyahu's Likud in order to come to an agreement on forming an emergency government to combat the coronavirus epidemic.
"Benny, it is clear that your naive willingness to join an emergency government has been met with a cynical deceitfulness of a defendant trying to avoid a trial," Ya'alon wrote on Twitter, referring to an upcoming criminal trial Netanyahu faces, where he is set to battle three corruption charges.
"If you agree to his terms to consolidate his rule and place himself above the law, you will betray the principles that united us. It is not too late to make amends for the mistake you made in navigating."
Also on Monday, police handed out NIS 5,000 tines to dozens of people who demonstrated in front of the home of Gantz's ally and Blue and White current No. 2 Gabi Ashkenazi.
Police said some 60 people were demonstrated outside the former IDF chief of staff house, protesting the Blue & White's continued negotiation to form a unity government with the right-wing bloc. Demonstrators called on Ashkenazi to "wake up" and realize that Netanyahu is taking the two former IDF chiefs “for a ride.”
Police said the fines were handed out after demonstrators refused to adhere to Health Ministry orders to demonstrate in small groups, which include no more than 10 people.
Ashkenazi, in turn, called for the fines to be canceled. “Even in current circumstances, freedom of speech and the right to protest must be maintained as long as protesters adhere to Health Ministry regulations,” he tweeted.
“The right to demonstrate is a fundamental democratic right. I call on the internal security minister and the acting police commissioner to annul the fines handed out to the demonstrators this morning,” the Blue and White No. 2 said.
The right-wing Yamina party, meanwhile, said in a statement Monday morning that Netanyahu has promised not to hand over control of the Judicial Appointments Committee to Blue & White or to make any compromise on the issue of sovereignty in the West Bank.
The two issues remain the hot topics over which the agreement between the two sides still has not been reached, leaving the Israeli public without a functioning government in the times of the country's biggest health crisis.
“Abandoning the Judicial Appointments Committee to the left would be a disaster that would resonate for generations and would bring the judicial coup of Barak and Beinish [former chief justices] back to life. Gantz must stick to the agreements made on these matters and remember that he heads a minority party of 17 MKs against Netanyahu, who heads a 59-seat bloc,” added Yamina.
First published: 19:13, 04.13.20