The head of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, on Sunday called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz not to drag Israel into a fourth election campaign within a year and a half.
"At a time when our residents live in economic uncertainty and the threat of isolation hovers over every city and locality in Israel," Dagan said, “we in the local government need to open the school year, take care of community life and allow workplaces to operate. Elections now would be a strategic mistake for the State of Israel. "
The head of the Shomron Regional Council called on Gantz and Netanyahu to settle the dispute between them. “As you know, I have a lot of criticism of the government, but at the end of the day the worst thing for the State of Israel will be going to a fourth election in a year and a half. Such a ‘gift’ is the last thing the residents of the State of Israel need from their leaders."
If there is no breakthrough between the Likud and Blue and White by midnight on Monday, the 23rd Knesset will be dissolved without the budget being approved, and Israel will go to elections for the fourth time in a year and a half.
Senior Likud and Blue and White officials estimate that the chance of an election is 50%, and both parties are trying to reach a compromise that will prevent elections.
Netanyahu and Gantz are considering a compromise proposal by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Zvi Hauser, according to which a law postponing the approval of the budget by 100 days will be passed and a committee to examine the appointment of senior officials will be formed, in accordance with the coalition agreement.
Hauser suggests that the appointments of senior officials will be frozen for the next 100 days and the government will focus on the fight against coronavirus and the flu ahead of the winter, as well as on security challenges on the Gaza border and in the north.