Gantz Accuses Lieberman of Lying, Pushing for New Elections

Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz on Thursday accused Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman of either lying or pushing Israel toward new elections, following Lieberman's commitment not to form a government with Arab parties and his claim that Likud members would join a coalition without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Likud responded sharply to Lieberman, accusing him of hypocrisy and of speaking right-wing rhetoric while acting left-wing. The party stated that Lieberman, who previously formed a government with Mansour Abbas and allocated significant funds to Islamic charities supporting Hamas, would repeat such actions. The Likud also asserted that Lieberman and Gadi Eisenkot would not form a government without Yair Golan and Arab parties.

Lieberman had declared that Yisrael Beiteinu would only support a coalition composed of Zionist parties, explicitly excluding parties like Ra'am, the Joint List, Shas, and United Torah Judaism. He also pledged not to support a minority government, including a transitional one. He further suggested that the Likud could be a significant partner in the next government, but only if Netanyahu was not its leader, claiming to know Likud Knesset members willing to join an anti-Netanyahu coalition.

Gantz argued that Lieberman's conditions left no practical path to forming a government. "Either Lieberman is lying and will go to form a minority government with the Arab parties under his leadership, or we are going to repeat elections," Gantz stated. He then appealed to Gadi Eisenkot, urging him to support a "Zionist unity government" and offering his backing for such a move, emphasizing that only a strong Blue and White could ensure a broad Zionist government to "save Israel."

This exchange follows Gantz's earlier accusation that Lieberman was working to oust Eisenkot and form a narrow government with Ahmed Tibi, which Lieberman denied, claiming Gantz had joined Netanyahu's campaign against him.