Gantz-Lapid victory will bring Palestinian state to Tel Aviv, Netanyahu warns

Voters have the choice of a new “weak, left-wing party” that will create a Palestinian state on Israel’s borders or “a strong, right-wing government under my leadership,” the prime minister said Thursday evening.

By Atara Beck, World Israel News

Speaking Thursday evening at Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Israelis against voting in the “new, weak left-wing” alliance, headed by former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, saying the result will be a Palestinian state on Israel’s borders.

The new “Blue and White” alliance will rely on the Arab parties, which seek to destroy the Jewish state, Netanyahu warned.

According to the left, “a right-wing, Zionist blocking majority is forbidden, but a blocking majority with Arab parties which work to destroy Israel is legitimate,” he said, referring to his successful attempt to convince the Jewish Home to merge with the ultra-right Otzma party in order to strengthen his position.

“That is absurd,” the Israeli leader stated.

“In 1992, we got [former Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin and the Oslo disaster; in 1999, Ehud Barak and the intifada, with buses bombed and more than 1,000 dead,” he warned.

A government led by Gantz and Lapid “would destroy Israel economically and establish a Palestinian state on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, next to Afula, next to Beer Sheva,” he continued. “A Palestinian state that will threaten our existence.”

On Tuesday, in fact, Gantz delivered a scathing attack on Netanyahu, who served in the IDF as a combat soldier, claiming that “at a time when I trained generations of commanders and fighters, you were taking acting lessons in a New York studio.” Nevertheless, Gantz forged a unity deal the next day with Lapid, who has no combat experience whatsoever.

Netanyahu ridiculed the idea of having the Yesh Atid leader as prime minister – according to the new alliance deal, if victorious, the premiership would be rotated between the two leaders – pointing to Lapid’s lack of security experience.

Israel “has never been in a better position,” Netanyahu affirmed, citing the “blossoming” Israeli economy as well as his diplomatic successes, particularly regarding the Iranian threat.

Earlier Thursday, two new polls indicated that the Blue and White alliance would win 36 seats, beating Netanyahu’s Likud party, which would get 26 to 30 seats.