Orly Levy-Abekasis
Orly Levy-AbekasisKobi Richter/TPS

Knesset Member Orly Levi Abekasis, who had not recommended to the president any candidate to form a government, stated in a post on Sunday that she is joining the voices demanding Netanyahu be granted the mandate.

"A new situation - a realistic conclusion," Levi Abekasis opened the post, noting that "Gantz's request to the president to extend his mandate is an admission of his inability to form a government."

She said Gantz's appeal to the president "is intended to gain time as a means of exerting pressure in the deadlocked negotiations. Pressure whose purpose is to squeeze from the other side further concessions and political centers of power - this in addition to the rotation and individual representation that goes against any logical proportion in a normal situation."

"Negotiations that started out of concern about the danger of the coronavirus have become a strange political illusion accompanied by threats to the prime minister: If you do not meet our demand, we will submit to the Knesset bills that will personally disqualify you from being appointed," she argued.

"It's amazing to hear such selective morals from the mouths of those who promised clean politics," Levi Abekasis said.

"In the existing situation there is only one way to get out of the maze, and it is to recognize the facts: 1. The Likud is the largest party in the Knesset. 2. The PM is supported by the largest political bloc in the Knesset: 59 Knesset members. 3. Even in the existing situation the government is functioning, it can be criticized, but it is still functioning and is not unraveling. 4. For these reasons, the prime minister must be given the mandate because let's face it, only he has the chance to form a government,” Levi Abekasis concluded.