Hundreds of Likud activists gathered at the Tel Aviv Expo Center Sunday night for an ‘emergency conference’ called to protest the possible establishment of a left-wing government without majority backing in the Knesset. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the gathering, discussing the latest efforts to form a unity government with the Blue and White party and calling on the center-left party not to form a left-wing minority government with the support of Arab lawmakers from the opposition. "We are at a crucial moment for the State of Israel. The leaders of Blue and White - Benny Gantz, Gabi Ashkenazi, and Boogie Yaalon - have decided to form a minority government that will be dependent on members of the Joint Arab List," Netanyahu claimed. Netanyahu noted that he opposed reliance on the anti-Zionist Joint Arab List over its positions, not the fact that its lawmakers are Arabs. "When I say [Joint] Arab [List], I don't mean because they're Arabs. Arabs can be Zionists and support the State of Israel. But the [Joint Arab List] isn't Zionist, and they don't support the State of Israel." "During the election you campaigned on the slogan 'Israel above all else'. But now the truth comes out, it isn't 'Israel above all else', it is 'the government above all else'." Netanyahu mocked claims during the election campaign by Blue and White candidates that the party would never rely on the Joint Arab List to form a minority government. The Prime Minister called his campaign warnings that Blue and White would form a bloc with the Joint Arab List an accurate prediction. The Prime Minister went on to call the formation of a minority government led by Blue and White formed with the support of the Joint Arab List from the Opposition a "terrible danger" and a "breaking point" for Israel. "A minority government relying on the support of MKs from the Joint List, who support terrorism, is a breaking point." "To be dependent on them all of the time, and especially now, is a terrible danger to the State of Israel, and an unprecedented breaking point in the history of the state." Earlier on Sunday , MK David Bitan (Likud) accused Blue and White of pushing to form a government without the Likud at any cost. “Blue and White doesn’t want a national unity government, they want a government without Netanyahu, their own government; and then they’ll head back to elections, with the only difference being that they hold the premiership instead of Netanyahu. They know that any minority government won’t last longer than a month.” Bitan blamed the ongoing political deadlock, which has left both Netanyahu and Gantz unable to form a unity government, on Blue and White MK Yair Lapid. “Lapid is torpedoing any chance of a unity government.” Nevertheless, Bitan believes a unity government may still ultimately be formed, while rejecting the possibility of a narrow right-wing government being formed at the last moment with the support of Avigdor Liberman and his Yisrael Beytenu party. “The public doesn’t want another election, so everyone will come together. A minority government has no chance – only a unity government does.”
