Gantz demands polygraph of leak from faction meeting

At the meeting, Gantz admitted that he does not believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will abide by his commitment to give Gantz the premiership in a year.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Tuesday demanded that MKs in his faction take a polygraph test to determine who leaked quotes from a closed-door meeting at his home in Rosh Ha’ayin on Sunday night.
At the meeting, Gantz admitted that he does not believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will abide by his commitment to give him the premiership in a year.
“I understand Netanyahu won’t let rotation happen,” he said in a quote broadcast by Channel 12 correspondent Daphna Liel that was later verified by The Jerusalem Post with three sources who were present at the meeting.
According to Liel, a Blue and White MK responded to the polygraph request by saying that Gantz “forgot that we are in politics and not the IDF General Staff.”
Gantz also said in the meeting that he would not make a decision for the next two weeks about whether to remove the party from the government, which will require Yesh Atid to postpone its proposal to disperse the Knesset. The bill, which was set to be brought for a vote on Wednesday, cannot pass without Blue and White’s support. If it is proposed and falls, it cannot be presented again for six months.
MKs who met at Gantz’s home were divided about how soon to bring down the government. Some of them, led by Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, said they should leave immediately. But Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper warned that if the party leaves, a right-wing government could be formed.