Lapid
LapidElad Malchah

Blue and White leader Yair Lapid blamed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud party for the failure of coalition negotiations.

"For the past week Netanyahu and his people are disseminating the lie that I vetoed a unity government," Lapid said at the Blue and White faction meeting Monday. " Their aim is to cause division between us. To have us argue here at home. It won’t work. We’re a team. No-one is buying their lies. The only reason we don’t have a unity government is Binyamin Netanyahu. Yesterday they said, “We offered significant concessions”. They didn’t offer anything. We’re in the room. We’re sat opposite them. They say, “Netanyahu is first in the rotation. He will be Prime Minister, with his indictments. We’re coming with the whole bloc, from Litzman to Smotrich." That’s not an offer. It’s fraud. Those who voted for Blue and White didn’t do it so that we would offer a political lifeline to someone indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust."

"Netanyahu, as usual, only has one goal - to break apart Blue and White. We built a real alternative to his failed leadership – so he’s doing everything to cause us to fall apart. That’s how he operates. That’s how he’s operated his entire political life. We won’t give him the satisfaction. One man with three serious indictments, who lost the election, is holding back the entire country. He doesn’t care about anything except his trial.

"Enough of the madness. There are children in bomb shelters around Gaza. The cost of living is intolerable. There is a crisis in matters of religion and state. There is a country to govern but Netanyahu is pushing us to elections. That’s what his lawyers recommended and the only thing that matters to him is what his lawyers recommend.

"So he’s trying to shift the blame to us. Or to me. I don’t have a problem with his smears, I’m used to them. But he’s talking nonsense. The only reason we don’t have a unity government is because Netanyahu doesn’t want a unity government. He wants elections. Every Likud Knesset Member should know, David Bitan, Yoav Kisch, Keren Barak: If you’re not in the next Knesset it’s because Netanyahu doesn’t care about you. I don’t know what he’s telling you but he’s doing everything to push the country to elections. He’s undermining every offer.

"Unlike him, we’re doing everything to avoid elections. What the State of Israel needs now is a unity government led by Benny Gantz. We will continue to do everything to form a government until the very last moment. Netanyahu will continue to lie. "