Who is pushing for a fourth election? - analysis

Netanyahu’s associates read weekend columns about the prime minister preparing an election next June and did not know whether to laugh or cry.

By GIL HOFFMAN
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 and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz have had plenty of disagreements since their government was sworn-in five weeks ago.
They have disagreed on annexation, priorities in the Knesset and whether to pass a two-year budget.
But on one thing, they totally agree: They think the media is out to get them and bring their government down.
Netanyahu’s associates read weekend columns about the prime minister preparing an election next June and did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Using the March 31 deadline to pass the state budget as an excuse for elections would make sense for Netanyahu, if his Likud continues getting the 41 seats in the polls that a Jerusalem Post survey predicted last week.
But sources close to Netanyahu said he knows there is only so much the public can stomach, making a fourth election in just over two years very unlikely.
“The reports of him going around threatening elections are totally absurd,” a source close to Netanyahu said. “It is only the media that is pushing that.”
Both Netanyahu and Gantz attended a meeting with Bank of Israel governor Amir Yaron last week in which Yaron and Finance Ministry professionals all agreed on passing two one-year budgets for 2020 and 2021.
“In times of prosperity, passing a two-year budget makes sense,” a source close to Netanyahu said. “But even Netanyahu critics agree that it makes no sense to push a two-year budget during a crisis when we don’t know what will happen in a few weeks.”
Gantz’s associates vigorously denied reports that he is strongly pushing a two-year budget and even conditioned backing for any type of annexation on getting it.
“One of the reasons it was so urgent to form a government was the need to finally pass a budget,” Gantz wrote on Facebook. “The length of the budget is a professional matter. Despite baseless statements of interested parties, I will not let an issue that impacts everyone in the state become a political tool or personal matter. I will decide solely on what is good for the citizens of the state.”
The interested party Gantz was referring to was his former political partner, opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has been playing Netanyahu and Gantz against each other with the media’s assistance. Gantz also blamed the press for reports about him seeking financial benefits that he never asked for and found ways to reject.
Netanyahu and Gantz will continue to disagree, but if the media keeps bringing them together, elections could end up being later than expected.