Gantz vows to beat Netanyahu if there are elections

Knesset to vote to enable March 3 election.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz issued a long statement before Shabbat in which he attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and vowed to beat him in elections.
In the statement, Gantz falsely accused Netanyahu of telling reporters on his trip to Lisbon that he is seeking to serve as prime minister for two years. In fact, Netanyahu told the reporters that he was willing to serve for only six months in order to prevent a third election in under a year.
"While I am leaving no stone unturned to bring about a unity government, Netanyahu is turning every stone back to advance elections," Gantz wrote on his Facebook page. "Elections are not good for the people of Israel. But if Netanyahu drags us to elections, I will work hard and struggle with all my might for the state, its future, its character and its unity together with my colleagues in Blue and White."
Gantz said Netanyahu did not win the April or September elections and would not win the third election that would be initiated automatically if an MK does not obtain the support of a majority of the Knesset by Wednesday.
"After the upcoming election, the Netanyahu era will end and sanity will return, because that is what is correct for Israel," Gantz wrote.
The Likud also took a step toward an election on Friday, when a party spokesman announced that at Sunday's Likud central committee meeting, there will be a vote on backing the so-called Norwegian Law, in which every minister will automatically quit and be replaced by the next name on the Likud list. Passing the bill would allow more candidates on the Likud list to enter the Knesset if the party enters the government.
Sources in the Knesset said on Friday that if an election is initiated, it would most likely be held on March 3. It is currently set for March 10, which is Purim, so a bill would have to be passed in three readings to change the Basic Law to enable the election to be moved up.ax