Israel: Gantz faces pressure from his party to dissolve Knesset

Members of Israel’s Blue and White party are putting pressure on their leader Benny Gantz, the Israeli Defence Minister and Alternate Prime Minister, to dissolve the Knesset and force the country into its fourth election in under two years.

Reporting Israeli news website i24, the Shehab News Agency said that Gantz is still hesitant regarding this measure.

According to i24, if no progress was reached regarding the budget for 2021, members of Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) would propose a number of bills on Wednesday that are expected to embarrass Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

In addition, i24 said that if the state budget was not approved by 24 December and no agreement was reached regarding its postponement, the Knesset would automatically be dissolved.

The budget is pivotal to a “unity” accord reached to form a coalition government after an inconclusive March election.

The power-sharing pact stipulated that Israel would pass a binannual budget but Netanyahu is now calling for a 2020 budget instead. Gantz insists on sticking to the deal that was to be his insurance policy for a smooth transition of power.

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