The four members of Blue and White's leadership cockpit met on Friday and said they would still seek a national unity government led by Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, but just in case that is not possible, they also considered other alternatives and options.
The Blue and White leaders met a day after Gantz gave an interview in which he expressed willingness for the first time to sit in a government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a rotation in the Prime Minister's Office.
Gantz was repeatedly asked about the possibility by Channel 12 and explained why his campaign promises not to sit under Netanyahu no longer apply during the national emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He said he would "do what is needed under the circumstances" and would "have to match the election results with the current situation."
"It would not be responsible of me to not consider alternatives and to only stick to statements I made here and someone else made there," he said.
Gantz said that "at this moment, all options have to remain on the table."
But in a Facebook message he posted on Friday afternoon, Gantz appeared to backtrack from what he said the day before, saying: "Since I received the mandate [to form a government] I am working, exactly as I promised, to form a wide, stable and statesmanlike government that will know how to deal with the great challens before us."
The members of the cockpit agreed to continue fighting for the formation of Knesset committee so the legislative branch could begin helping Israelis contend with the economic impact of the coronavirus.
"There will not be a government if there will not be a functional Knesset, as is needed in a democracy," Gantz wrote on Facebook. "In a democracratic regime, the legislature cannot be paralyzed and prevented from expressing the will and the votes of the citizens. Anyone who thinks he can advance us to a dangerous borderline dictatorship is mistaken."
The Supreme Court will convene to rule on the matter at 4pm on Sunday.
"The Blue and White leadership hopes and believes the Supreme Court will force votes to form the committees and for a Knesset speaker," they said in an official statement after the meeting on Friday.
Sources in the party said after the meeting that the party would not be splitting and reports to the contrary must have come from the Likud.
"They are united, but they considered all options for forming a government and that means all of them," a source in the party said.
Meanwhile, Channel 13 reported on Friday afternoon that in ongoing coalition talks, the Likud gave up on the controversial Supreme Court override bill that would allow the Knesset to overturn court decisions with a special majority. They agreed that both sides would have veto power on legislation impacting the legal system.
The Likud released a statement calling on Blue and White leader to realize that the coronavirus requires a national unity government.
"We expect Blue and White to display national responsibility and immediately join an emergency government of the people of Israel," the Likud said. "This is not the time for politics."