President Reuven Rivlin said, Monday evening, "We took a significant step tonight, and now the first challenge is building a direct channel of dialogue out of trust between the parties."
Rivlin spoke at the end of the first part of a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Chairman Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party, intended to advance a unity government that includes the two largest vote-getting parties in last week's Knesset election. The president left the two party leaders to continue the talks by themselves. He stressed that "the current situation, in which a transitional government is serving, is seriously hurting the citizens of Israel and our ability to meet the challenges we face." The President's Residence noted that, in accordance with the agreement between the participants, the contents of the conversation and the possible alternatives that emerged were not specified.