General Benny Gantz is tired. Tired of the insoluble divisions of his movement, Bleu Blanc. Tired after three legislative campaigns in one year. Tired of the majority of deputies he had managed to gather in the Knesset after the last ballot on March 2. Agreeing on nothing but their hatred of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they remained incapable of forming a government of alternation.
On Thursday March 26, Mr. Gantz threw in the towel. The former chief of staff, who entered politics just a year ago, will not seek to depose the prime minister. He puts aside the promise on which he had gathered a million voters. On the contrary, Mr. Gantz blew up his own movement, hoping to eventually rally "A national emergency government" headed by Mr. Nétanyahou. In order to put an end, together, to a political crisis in which the State is sinking, to deal with the emergency of the epidemic due to SARS-CoV-2.
This "deal" is not yet public. For the moment, Mr. Gantz was temporarily elected head of parliament on Thursday afternoon, with the support of the right-wing "bloc" of Mr. Netanyahu. He thus thwarted the plans of his own camp, at the crucial moment when the latter took control of the legislative institution. They intended to appoint to this post Meir Cohen, member of the liberal and centrist faction of Bleu Blanc, opposed to any agreement with Mr. Netanyahu. Under his leadership, they proposed to pass a custom-designed bill to prevent Mr. Netanyahu from running for a new term, while his trial for corruption, fraud and breach of trust lasted.
"No ordinary days"
Mr. Netanyahu had made it clear that this appointment would make weeks of negotiations with Bleu Blanc and directly with Mr. Gantz obsolete. Faced with this ultimatum, the general bowed. In front of an almost empty hemicycle – anti-contagion measures require – he highlighted the urgency of the health crisis, and his determination to help resolve it. "These are not ordinary days: they demand extraordinary decisions, he said. Now is not the time for controversy and division. The time has come for responsible, dedicated and patriotic leadership. Let us join hands and get Israel out of this crisis. "
Their alliance is formed after ten days of an unprecedented crisis, during which the supporters of Mr. Netanyahu had refused to give up the leadership of the Knesset, paralyzing the institution and briefly defying the Supreme Court, at the risk of calling into question the principles of democratic alternation and separation of powers.
