Yair Lapid offered to work with arch-rival Benjamin Netanyahu to deny one-time ally Benny Gantz from assuming the role of prime minister in accordance with terms of Israel’s newly established unity government.
By World Israel News Staff
On Monday, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid ramped up his offensive against Blue and White’s Benny Gantz, Lapid’s running mate during the past three elections.
Lapid told a Knesset committee on Monday he would block his former ally from assuming the role of prime minister in the rotation deal Gantz reached with Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Any time Bibi wants to stop the rotation … all he has to do is come to me,” said Lapid, adding, “I will say yes” in a vote to repeal the unity government legislation.
Under the terms of the proposed bills, 75 parliament members are required to jettison the rotation between Netanyahu and Gantz.
“All [Netanyahu] has to do is come to me and say that he wants to return the laws to how they were before,” Lapid said. “We respect our democracy, and these horrible and shameful bills must be canceled.”
Lapid made the comments during a session on legislation required to legalize the Gantz-Netanyahu unity government, which does not comply with current laws.
In addition to offering to help dash Gantz’s hopes of becoming prime minister, Lapid predicted that Netanyahu would not uphold his commitments to relinquish the post in 18 months, which the unity agreement requires.
“In what world … will Bibi tell Sarah Netanyahu, ‘Clear the shelves. Tomorrow [Gantz’s wife] Revital will arrive and hang her clothes in your closet.’ You know that’s not going to happen,” Lapid tweeted.
Lapid added in a separate tweet that the unity agreement “has more holes than the golf course” in Netanyahu’s hometown, Caesarea.
“Just revisit the budget section of the rotation agreement, and see how easy it would be to not to comply,” Lapid posted, pointing to “at least three sections” that leave the agreement open to being “thrown out the window, without a problem.”