The Blue and White list's post-election coalition negotiating team has received clear instructions to "drag out" talks with the Likud until a hearing is held on the criminal investigations involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Hayom learned on Tuesday.
Officials involved in the negotiations process said, "We need to get to Oct. 2 without anything being closed. Only after Netanyahu's hearing will the Blue and White team know which way to go. Until then, the team is under instructions to drag things out. Closing things either way would be unnecessary."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The same officials told Israel Hayom that Blue and White and the Likud were holding "urgent meetings" in part to "give the public a picture of a real desire for unity."
"That [desire] exists in Blue and White, but of course the goal is a unity government without Netanyahu, which is why orders have been given to drag things out, in the hope that he'll exit the stage, making all the talk about a rotation between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz meaningless," the officials said.
Another Blue and White official told Israel Hayom on Tuesday, ahead of a scheduled meeting with Likud representatives on Tuesday afternoon, that Gantz was being pressured by close associates ("some who are not part of the coalition negotiations") to agree to a rotation with Netanyahu despite his campaign promises not to join any government under Netanyahu.
According to a different Blue and White official, it would be "very difficult" for Gantz to break his word to the public not to enter a government with Netanyahu, but the party was trying to make it clear to him that there was a "difference between a campaign and reality."
"If he wants to be prime minister, as we want him to be, he will have to move ahead with Netanyahu and put an end to the matter. The public will be angry at first, but thank him later," the official said.
Other senior members of Blue and White said Tuesday that the party would not be satisfied with Gantz being offered the first two years of a rotating prime ministership.
"It's not enough for Gantz to be prime minister – the government has to be built on Blue and White's principles and not subject to extortion by small parties," they sadi.
When asked if Blue and White would consider a rotation in which Netanyahu would serve as prime minister before Gantz but Blue and White would lay down the guidelines of the government, one official said that such a proposal "would be given due consideration – still, Blue and White won, and Gantz should be first [in a rotation]."
