Israel: Blue and White likely to collapse after departure of key figures

Coalition partner in Israel’s current government, the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party, is likely to collapse after key members quit the bloc, local media reported yesterday.

This comes after two Members of the Knesset, Asaf Zamir and Miki Haimovich, voted against extending the budget deadline last week, Ynet News said, leading to the collapse of the coalition government.

Zamir and Haimovich announced on Sunday night that they had defected and would not be included in the party’s electoral list for the next elections.

“I do not regret the way I voted,” the Times of Israel reported Zamir writing on Facebook on Sunday.

“I thanked [Gantz] for the trust he has placed in me so far and I begged him to do everything necessary so that the center-left arrives united to the elections in a structure that will allow him to run for power,” he added.

Haimovich confirmed that she would leave the party, the paper added.

“I met today [Monday] with Benny Gantz and we agreed to end our political partnership and that I would not run on the Blue and White slate for the upcoming Knesset,” she said, according to the Times of Israel, stressing she is proud of voting against the extension.

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