Blue and White senior officials want MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) to give up his rotation agreement for serving as prime minister with Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, according to a report on Channel 13 News on Thursday evening.
The officials include MK Gabi Ashkenazi, number 4 in Blue White, as well as MK Moshe Ya'alon, number 3 on the list, who believe that the possibility of Lapid serving as prime minister will harm Blue and White at the polls in September.
What was left unsaid was that Blue and White is well-aware that distancing the haredi parties will make it impossible for it to form a coalition in the next Knesset. The presence of Lapid, who spews hatred and vitriol against the haredim on a constant basis, is a deterrent for the haredi parties to even consider the possibility of joining with Blue and White. The haredi parties have explicity said many times in the past that sitting together in a government with Yair Lapid is a red line that they're not prepared to cross.
The Channel 13 News report adds emphasis to the earlier report on Thursday by Haaretz that Gantz's associates want to separate from Yesh Atid, with the understanding that forming a coalition without the haredi parties in the 22nd Knesset is an impossibility.
Yaalon said in an interview on Reshet Bet on Thursday morning that the recent events require "rethinking" about Blue and Whites's relationship with haredim. "I hope that we can achieve this result - that it will be clear to all the parties, including haredim - that we will be the ones to ultimately form a government. We saw how they suddenly compromised yesterday at the last minute. My positive relationship with haredim is well-known and they know me," he stressed.