After Blue & White split, Lapid slams Gantz for 'betraying' voters, 'capitulating' to Netanyahu
Gantz responds that dragging Israel into a fourth election amid coronavirus crisis not an option
By allying with Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accepting the temporary position of Knesset speaker, Benny Gantz has "betrayed and sold out" his voters, Yair Lapid charged on Thursday.
Lapid, who broke with the ex-military chief earlier on Thursday, accused him of surrendering "without a fight", declaring the break-up of the Blue and White Alliance that Gantz had led.
Lapid, who heads Yesh Atid, told journalists at a press conference that "Benny Gantz decided today to break apart Blue and White and crawl into Netanyahu's government."
"What's being formed today isn't a unity government and not an emergency government. It's another Netanyahu government. Benny Gantz surrendered without a fight," he added.
Early on Saturday, Gantz took to Facebook to deliver his short response to Lapid's fuming statements. He thanked Lapid and Ya'alon for their work in 2019 and said that he puts Israel above all -- and thinks that the Jewish state should not be dragged into a fourth election amid the virus crisis.
It is understood Gantz appeared to offer the premier, indicted on corruption charges, a path to extend his 11-year tenure, although no agreement had yet been declared and the shifting political landscape was causing significant fallout within the anti-Netanyahu bloc.