Blue and White on Tuesday began efforts to cannibalize votes from its allies in the Center-Left bloc ahead of next Monday's election. MK Yair Lapid, who is Blue and White's No. 2 candidate, tweeted a message to voters of Labor-Gesher-Meretz: “If you plan to vote for Labor-Meretz, ask yourself one question: What will be left of Israel's democracy if Bibi wins by even one mandate?” Labor-Gesher-Meretz candidates immediately blasted him and accused him of harming Blue and White leader Benny Gantz's chances of forming the next government. “Stop bothering our efforts to defeat Bibi and ensure that Gantz will be prime minister,” Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz wrote. Labor MK Revital Swid was more blunt, saying: “It is amazing that we still have to teach Yair Lapid basic math. Only the size of our bloc matters, and this was proven in the last two elections.” Blue and White was “shooting itself in the head,” she said. Swid warned that the new campaign was a sign that Blue and White would join a Likud-led government. Labor secretary-general Eran Hermoni, who is a candidate, said it was a crime that right-wing Blue and White MKs prevented Gantz from forming a minority government after the September election, and it is another crime that instead of seeking votes from the right-wing bloc, Blue and White is trying to “drink votes from the Left.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began efforts to woo right-wing voters away from Yamina for his Likud Party weeks ago.
