Avi Gabbay, who until six months ago was the chairman of the Labor party, says in an interview with Rina Matzliach of Channel 12 News that Benny Gantz should "hold his breath" and sit in a government headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"In the end, the role of Blue and White - they were elected to replace Bibi," said Gabbay. "They did not succeed and they will not succeed in the next election either. We see the polls. So they have to tell their public: ‘People, listen, we wanted to, it did not happen, so we are going to a unity government.’"
"I truly believe Gantz when he says that for him Israel comes first," added Gabbay. "He needs to make that decision right now, which isn’t simple and which has risks, and establish a unity government.”
"One of the things I regret is that I did not enter the Netanyahu government. I went to my faction, listened to them - and I didn't realize I was doing something wrong," said Gabbay, who had received a last-minute proposal to enter the Netanyahu government that could have prevented an election for a second time.
Netanyahu had reportedly offered Gabbay the Finance Ministry and three other portfolios.
Gabbay carefully considered the tempting proposal but ultimately turned it down. He later justified his consideration of the offer, despite a campaign promise not to be a part of Netanyahu’s government, by saying he sought to thwart the passing of laws he sees as anti-democratic.
Gabbay ultimately stepped down as head of Labor and subsequently quit politics altogether.