Knesset speaker and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz took to Facebook on Friday morning to discuss the near dead end of the coalition negotiations, which ultimately led to Blue and White and Likud representatives not to meet on Friday.This comes after President Reuven Rivlin set a date for the fourth elections on Thursday, after he handed the mandate to form a government to the Knesset. He did so since he felt that Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hadn't made enough progress by the end of the deadline he had previously given to Gantz. Rivlin extended the deadline from Monday until Wednesday night. While both Gantz and Netanyahu met for several hours, the mandate expired without an agreement.The Blue and White head opened his statement saying that, "Whoever wants a fourth elections, should say. Those who want to spend billions of shekels instead of passing them on to the health care system, the self-employed and the unemployed, those left destitute because of the coronavirus crisis, should come forward," he added.In what comes off as a slam against Netanyahu, he wrote, "Since the elections, a double game has been played by various political powers."The address continues for a number of paragraphs, and one of the most notable parts is where he refers to forming the next government. "I can't tell you if we'll succeed in establishing a government or not," Gantz said, adding that he and his partners are "doing everything necessary" while still adhering to their own principles so that the country can emerge from one of the biggest crises it has had since its establishment. Seemingly trying to highlight the fact that his party did everything it could do to prevent a fourth election, he added that should it happen, he and his party will go to elections with their "heads held high," because they know they did everything they could while the country was in a crisis.
"I come with clean hands, and I put Israel first," he said, finishing the address.
