Netanyahu calls Gantz in effort to end dispute

Meanwhile, President Reuven Rivlin and Shas leader Arye Deri are mediating to avoid a fourth election.

By GIL HOFFMAN, GREER FAY CASHMAN
Defense Minister Benny Gantz [L] and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [R] wearing masks in the Knesset (photo credit: ADINA VALMAN/KNESSET SPOKESPERSON)
Defense Minister Benny Gantz [L] and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [R] wearing masks in the Knesset
(photo credit: ADINA VALMAN/KNESSET SPOKESPERSON)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Thursday evening and asked him to help prevent the November 17 election that would be initiated automatically if the budget deadline extension bill is not passed into law before Monday night at midnight.
Netanyahu asked Gantz to compromise and resolve their dispute already on Thursday. A Likud spokesman said a new compromise offer had been relayed from Likud to Blue and White
 
“We must put all political considerations aside,” Netanyahu told Gantz. “The citizens of Israel need a functioning government working to save their lives and their livelihood.”
But sources close to Gantz said there was no new compromise offer and Netanyahu's call was "just part of the blame game."
Disputes remained Thursday night over the state budget, how to make key appointments and other issues.
Compromise efforts aimed at reaching an agreement by Sunday morning when the Knesset Finance Committee will meet to pass the budget deadline extension bill, but it could also be passed in both the committee and the Knesset plenum on Monday.
A spokesman for Shas leader Arye Deri said he was "talking to both sides constantly" but whether there will be an election "will only be decided at the last minute."
President Reuven Rivlin held talks with leaders of the various political parties represented in the government coalition, including Gantz, Deri and Construction and Housing Minister Ya'acov Litzman and MK Moshe Gafni, the heads of United Torah Judaism.  Rivlin's office said he also raised the issue with Netanyahu when the two met this week at the President's Residence.
Rivlin said that it was incomprehensible that a disagreement over the budget could lead to yet another round of elections in such a short period of time.  Emphasizing that signed agreements must be honored, Rivlin said that if the one hurdle to overcome in order to prevent another election was the budget, then it was up to the leaders of all the parties in the coalition to demonstrate flexibility in order to enable the budget to be approved.
The president cautioned that public confidence in the government is already at a low ebb, and if the Knesset is dissolved at midnight on Monday because the government fails to reach agreement on the budget, public confidence will sink to the lowest level ever.
It is essential at this time, he said, for a show of transparency on the part of the government so that the public would understand all the issues. If there is to be another election, the budget must not be the reason for it, he said.