Lapid
LapidFlash 90

After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urged Blue and White Chairman MK Benny Gantz to parley on formation of a unity government, MK Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of "trying to drag the country into a third election."

At a Blue and White faction meeting, Lapid said: "One person is preventing the formation of a liberal unity government. One person. When faced with the choice between what’s important for the country and what’s important for one person, the country comes first."

The Blue and White leader continued: "That’s the aim of the bloc of extortionists and extremists he created yesterday. That’s the aim of all the spin he’s throwing around in the past few hours. The public didn’t give him their confidence - he’s trying to replace the public. Like the Labor party in the 1970s. The public doesn’t want him anymore so he wants to replace the public. We can’t allow him to drag us to another election.

"Our aim is to create a national liberal government. It’s not Liberman’s condition. It’s our aim. That’s why we went to elections, to create a liberal national unity government. With Liberman. With the Likud without Netanyahu. With other partners. One person stands between us and that government. If Netanyahu moves aside, we’ll have a unity government.

"A government of all those who believe we need civil marriage, cancelling the mini-market law, public transport on Shabbat. Without indictments and without corruption. And in light of what happened now, a government that will amend the election law so that it won’t be possible to drag us into elections every three months. That’s what the majority of the public wants. That’s what they voted for. That’s why we’re the biggest party in Israel," claimed Lapid.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu urged the formation of a unity government: "There's no reason for us to go for further elections. I'm against it. A broad unity government is the order of the day," Netanyahu said, calling on Opposition Chairman Gantz to meet with him as soon as possible.