As we speak, coronavirus is spreading across Israel. There are now 304 Israelis infected with the deadly virus and the Israeli Health Ministry fears that over 2,500 have yet to be diagnosed. The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic.
Due to this reality, the Israeli educational system was shut down, as were all theaters, gyms, restaurants and other non-essential stores and businesses. In fact, the entire country has been shut down except for the banks, hospitals, doctor's offices, pharmacies and grocery stores. All gatherings over 10 people are barred and many workers are being forced to work from home or were put on leave. Given the present situation, Passover Seders across the Jewish world are expected to be quite bleak. In such a dire situation, how can it be that Blue and White party leader Gantz still refuses to take part in a national unity government together with Netanyahu? During times like this, we need national unity, not partisanship.
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Mendi Safadi, who heads the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Public Relations and Human Rights, declared: "The Corona crisis synchronized with the political crisis presents us with an example of suburb management in a time of emergency. Here, you see the true meaning of leadership most clearly. The Prime Minister manages the crisis and invests in Israel before everything. He has proven that he is the best and the smartest in managing the Corona crisis in the entire world, with minimal losses and causalities."
For example, while Israel only has 304 cases of coronavirus and zero deaths, Switzerland, a country of comparable size, has over 2,000 cases of coronavirus and 13 deaths. This is largely because of the stringent measures Netanyahu has put in place in order to stop the virus from spreading.
While these measures have taken a heavy toll on the Israeli economy and adversely affected the average everyday life of Israelis in an extreme manner to the point that many argue that it is excessive, no one can deny that these harsh stringent measures nevertheless have proven to be effective in halting the spread of the virus. In fact, there have been reports that Israel is on the brink of developing a vaccine for the virus. In contrast, sick people across America claim that they are being denied the Coronavirus test and there is a lack of funding for public health labs researching the coronavirus, which hinders the ability of the United States to respond properly to the virus. At this critical hour, his wisdom is needed to contain the virus more than ever. The Joint Arab List cannot offer anything to assist the nation in solving the coronavirus crisis.
Instead of understanding the gravity of the threats Israel faces, both from the coronavirus and from radical Islam, which would have led Gantz to agree to join Netanyahu in a national unity government, Gantz instead has moved to establish a minority-led government with the support of the Joint Arab List. "Gantz positions the Blue and White party before everything," Safadi declared.
"Since the end of the elections, he has not mentioned the Coronavirus once. All his efforts were invested in forming a minority government with the support of the Joint Arab List before the president even decided who to give a mandate to form a government."
It has been clear from the very beginning that Gantz's Blue and White does not care about the democratic wishes of the Israeli people. At a Tel Aviv International Salon event in one of the previous rounds of elections, Gantz's press spokesman refused to relate to Palestinian incitement until after the elections. In other words, she did not want the Israeli voters to be able to make an informed decision on a critical national security issue when they went to the polls.
In the same manner, Gantz does not care that Netanyahu has 58 mandates to form a right-wing government and even many elements within the Blue and White Party are not enthusiastic about the idea of coming to power with the support of the Joint Arab List. Gantz reiterated that he needed to betray one of his promises to the voters due to the election results. However, instead of choosing to betray his promise not to sit in a government with Netanyahu, he prefers a minority government with the support of the Joint Arab List.
Apparently, this betrayal of the Israeli people was even too much for Gesher's Orly Levy-Abekasis to swallow, causing her to break her alliance with her ideological allies. Unless Gantz changes his direction and negotiates a national unity government with Netanyahu, others may follow suit, which will lead to him being unable to form a government even though he got the mandate first.
However, to date, Gantz does not listen to the will of the Israeli people, who voted in favor of such a unity government between Likud and Blue and White, and he instead insists on booting out Netanyahu at all costs, even though the present situation in the country implies that we cannot afford to deal with this political crisis anymore. The time has come for Gantz to put his personal issues with Netanyahu aside and to implement the wishes of the Israeli people. The time for a national unity government is now, not after a fourth election, once Gantz fails to form a coalition government.
