Netanyahu: Likud-Kahol Lavan unity only if Speaker ouster plan is dropped

PM Binyamin Netanyahu in a televised interview Saturday night offered Benny Gantz and his Kahol Lavan party a power-sharing deal to meet the national coronavirus emergency. The arrangement he proposed was for a three-year term, with himself handing over the premiership to Gantz at the halfway mark of eighteen months. Ministerial posts and Knesset committee chairs would be shared on a 50:50 basis between the two parties. However, if Gantz’s party insisted on firing the Likud Kesset Speaker to clear to way for legislation to oust Netanyahu, there would be no deal. Within minutes, Gantz replied that replacing the Likud Speaker was his party’s sine qua non for sealing a unity deal.