Balad members oppose recommending Gantz

Balad, one of the four parties that make up the Arabic Joint List, released a public statement on Sunday evening, disputing and opposing the historic recommendation given by the Joint List to former IDF chief of staff Gantz for prime minister.

During the party’s meeting on Sunday, in preparation for the recommendation meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, Balad members attempted to make the case for recommending no one, based on Gantz military background and ideology, saying his views are not very different from those of the Likud.

“Gantz is planning on forming a government with Liberman and the Likud. A recommendation for him is a recommendation for a unity government, which is even worse that a right wing one.”

“Blue and White have repeatedly ignored the Joint List’s demands and have consistently refused to discuss them or commit to them publicly and officially.”

“Any one of these reasons is enough to not recommend him, especially when all of them are combined.”

“Balad voted along with the Joint List to take down Netanyahu, and will keep working to prevent that, but at the same time don’t see Gantz as an alternative.”

Joint List member and head of the Ta’al party Ahmed Tibi responded to the statement by saying “we’ve recommended Gantz, but if a unity government were to be formed, we would vote against it.”

A spokesperson for President Rivlin responded to the announcement, saying “as far as we’re concerned, we count the Joint List’s recommendation for Benny Gantz as the support of 13 MKs.”