Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest election rival, former IDF chief Benny Gantz, said on Tuesday he would not join a Netanyahu government if charges are indeed filed against the prime minister.
But in leaked recordings aired on Channel 13 News on Monday, the Blue and White party leader said the "door was closed" on a coalition with Netanyahu "but not locked."
After Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit announced on Feb. 28 that he plans to indict Netanyahu in three corruption cases, Gantz ruled out joining a Netanyahu government.
In Tuesday's interview, for the first time since he entered politics, Gantz also said he was ready for a public debate against Netanyahu.
In an interview with Hadashot TV news, Gantz also said he would seek peace with the Palestinians but stopped short of endorsing their goal for statehood.
Israel, he said, has a moral obligation to "strive for peace."
"I will talk to anyone I can in order to advance a diplomatic solution," Gantz said.
When asked whether the ultimate goal would be that of a Palestinian state, Gantz did not give a definitive answer although he did suggest that eventually, Israel should separate from the Palestinians.
"At the end of the road there is a Jewish, democratic, safe and strong state with a solid Jewish majority and what happens on the other side would be an outcome of what happens at negotiations," he said.
Gantz's Blue and White party has slipped in opinion polls recently and Netanyahu appears likely to win the most support from allied parties, allowing him to form a coalition of right-wing and religious factions similar to the one he now heads.
