JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz, was elected parliamentary speaker on Thursday in a surprise maneuver that could herald a unity government keeping the veteran leader in power.
FILE PHOTO: Head of Israel’s Blue and White Party Benny Gantz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they attend a memorial ceremony in Jerusalem , November 10, 2019. Heidi Levine/Pool via REUTERS
With the support of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and allied parties, former general Gantz left many of his own political allies fuming over the smoothing of a path to partnership with a prime minister under criminal indictment.
The surprise twist in 48 hours of political drama plunged Gantz’s Blue and White Party into disarray just 13 months after it came into existence as a coalition of centrist Netanyahu opponents intent on bringing down the 70-year-old right-winger who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
Gantz’s move opened the possibility of a “rotation” deal in which he and Netanyahu would take turns as leader.
It follows a year of political deadlock in which a jaded Israeli electorate had voted in three inconclusive elections, with no appetite for a fourth.
Even more urgently, it faces the coronavirus pandemic that with more than 2,600 confi