As of this moment the Blue and Whites have 33 Knesset seats Likud 31. Neither block has a majority and everyone is waiting to see what Liberman and Israel Bitenyu will do.
This weekend Bibi and Ganz will make their pitch to President Rivlin for having first crack at forming a government. Out hunch is Ganz gets the nod but we don't see how he pulls it off.
Already Israeli media outlets are wondering if the nation will have to hold a third election.
This blog proposes the Knesset pass a bill pitting Bibi vs Ganz to settle this thing once and for all. They did if before, actually, in 2001. That year in a head to head matchup Aerial Sharon annihilated Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Let's do this, yo.
The Blue and Whites have released their platform. Here's the interesting bit from a historical perspective:
The diplomatic program set out in the manifesto includes support for a “united” Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, continued Israeli control over the Jordan Valley, and retaining settlement blocs in the West Bank, along with a willingness to enter negotiations with the Palestinians. “There will be no second disengagement. Any historic political decision will be brought to the people’s decision by referendum or approved in the Knesset by a special majority,” the platform reads, in a rejection of claims made by the Likud party that Gantz seeks a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank.
You're looking at a combined projected 68 Knesset seats out of 120 that have no interest whatsoever in any so called 'peace process', yielding territory, or giving up any piece of Jerusalem.
While Peres is unhappy, somewhere, Arial Sharon smiles. Oh, and God bless Menachim Begin, and not just becuase he's a dead ringer for our great grandfather.
