Interviewed on Radio 103FM today, MK Eitan Ginzburg of the Blue & White party discussed the likelihood of the unity government breaking apart, and the debate among his party’s members regarding whether to vote in favor of or against the proposal likely to be brought before the Knesset plenum on Wednesday to dissolve the Knesset.
“[Party head Benny] Gantz will make a decision either today or tomorrow,” Ginzburg said, “and we will vote in line with whatever he decides. We would much rather not hold elections and we certainly don’t think this is a good time to hold them, but on the other hand, it’s impossible to deny that the government is not functioning as it should. Decisions are being made based on the political and personal considerations of the Likud party and of Prime Minister Netanyahu himself, and if things continue that way, there doesn’t seem to be any other choice. The budget is being delayed for political reasons; there is no plan to get people back to work – and so, elections may be the only real option left.”
With regard to the budget, Ginzburg stated that, “If we knew that there was a concrete plan to pass the state budget, and to develop a plan for jobs for citizens, as well as to make senior appointments to positions such as police chief, we would view the situation differently. However, the government is simply not serving the citizens of the country, and the Likud is rebuffing all our suggestions for making progress in crucial areas.”
Asked what will happen if Gantz orders his MKs to vote against the proposal to dissolve the Knesset, Ginzburg responded that the party will not revolt, despite the differences of opinion among its MKs. “We are politicians, at the end of the day, and although we don’t all hold the same views, there is no actual split in the party. And the same is really true of any political party,” he added. “We will support Gantz in whatever decision he makes, and protect the interests of the party.”
All the same, he noted that, “Blue & White was not established in order to rescue Netanyahu and to serve his personal interests. We entered politics in order to serve the interests of Israeli citizens, and that is the only reason why we agreed to form a unity government with the Likud party – in a partnership of equals.”
He added that, “When Netanyahu first proposed the idea of a unity government, he presented the idea as being for the good of the country, without the usual political trickery and machinations. We have remained in the coalition in order to further the cause of unity – and the basic agreement involved Netanyahu serving as prime minister for half of the time, and Benny Gantz the other half. If that doesn’t end up happening, and Netanyahu breaks the agreement he made, then I don’t see any point in continuing in this manner. If he continues to delay the passage of the budget for political reasons, we would do better to dissolve the Knesset and go to face the voters. We will be able to tell Israeli citizens: Look, we tried, we entered this government with pure motivations and we paid the political price for that decision – a high price, I might add – and now it’s become obvious that those on the other side of the agreement, the Likud party and Netanyahu himself, aren’t interested in keeping to their side of the deal. And then we’ll see what the voters say.”