Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid form alliance ahead of election
Isareli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest challengers in an election in April joined forces on Thursday, adding more potency to the centrist candidates’ bid to end the right-wing leader’s decade in power.
In anticipation of the announcement of a new alliance between former military chief Benny Gantz’s Resilience party and ex-Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid faction, Mr. Netanyahu engineered a merger of far-right parties on Wednesday that could help him build a governing coalition after the ballot.
Resilience, in a statement, said Mr. Gantz, Mr. Lapid and Moshe Yaalon, a former Defence Minister, “decided to establish a joint list that will comprise the new Israeli ruling party”.
Mr. Gantz and Mr. Lapid, who met overnight, agreed on a “rotation for the Prime Minister’s post” in which Mr. Gantz would hold office for the first two-and-a-half years of a new government’s term before Mr. Lapid took over.
In their campaigns, both candidates have portrayed Mr. Netanyahu, who will become Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister this summer if he wins the April 9 ballot, as haughty and corrupt.
While Mr. Gantz and Mr. Lapid worked out their deal, Mr. Netanyahu helped negotiate the merger of two far-right parties, Jewish Home and Jewish Power, that could give followers of the late anti-Arab rabbi, Meir Kahane, a stronger voice in politics.
Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to remain in office even if the Attorney-General decides to accept police recommendations to indict him in corruption probes.
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