Netanyahu pushed Israel into snap election to avoid 'going to jail,' alleges Gantz

As Israel’s government collapsed and headed the nation amid COVID-19 pandemic into the fourth general election in two years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-time rival Benny Gantz said, “the sole purpose” of snap elections is Netanyahu avoiding corruption charges. Gantz wrote on social media, “Netanyahu is taking us to an election for the sole purpose of not going to jail.” In the nation’s unstable Netanyahu-Gantz coalition, called the “unity government”, Israeli PM had presented a budget for the current year but Gantz wanted a budget to cover 2020 and 2021. 

As per reports, Netanyahu did not intend to honour the power-sharing agreement he had signed with Gantz earlier in 2020 which envisaged that Israeli PM would be the Prime Minister of the country for the first 18 months and then Gantz would take over. Gantz was pushing for a 20-21 budget because, without it, Gantz would be facing instability next November when he was scheduled to succeed Netanyahu.

But instead, the country is now under fresh instability as the divided government collapsed early on December 23 without a budget and most media reports stating the ‘most probable’ explanation being that Netanyahu wants to form a new right-wing and religious government that would provide him immunity from prosecution. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit had announced on November 19 that Netanyahu would be charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three corruption cases and is also the first sitting Israeli PM who is accused of bribery with the trial starting in February 2021.

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Read - Israel Govt Collapses: 40% People Blame PM Netanyahu For Snap Elections, Reveals Survey

40% people blame PM Netanyahu for snap elections

A survey last week showed that over 40 per cent of Israeli’s blame PM Benjamin Netanyahu for the necessity to hold snap parliamentary elections, while nearly 18 per cent believe that Defense Minister Benny Gantz is responsible for the same. On early Wednesday, Israel’s divided government had collapsed, triggering the country’s fourth election in under two years. 

Now, while the speaker of Israel’s 120-seat unicameral parliament Knesset, Yariv Levin, said that the early parliamentary elections in the country would take place on March 23, 2021, the survey, which was published hours before the dissolution, showed that majority Israelis blame Netanyahu for the fact the country will go to polls for the fourth time. 

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