Blue and White is rapidly advancing coalition agreements with Yisrael Beytenu and Labor-Gesher in an effort to build a coalition before Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s mandate runs out late Wednesday night, sources in all three parties said Sunday. “Significant progress has been made toward drafting fundamental principles, particularly with respect to issues of religion and state,” Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu said in a joint statement following coalition talks on Sunday. The fact that after the meeting representatives of the two parties announced they would meet again late Sunday and Monday was seen as a sign that the coalition talks were very serious. Labor-Gesher leader Amir Peretz also used the words “significant progress” following his faction’s meeting with Blue and White on Thursday. Talks between Blue and White and Labor-Gesher are continuing on Sunday. Blue and White, Yisrael Beytenu and Labor-Gesher together have 47 seats. The Democratic Union would give the coalition five more seats. It is possible that either all 13 Joint List MKs, or at least the 10 not affiliated with the extremist Balad Party will support a minority government from outside the coalition with a parliamentary safety net, resulting in a government with 65 or 62 seats. President Reuven Rivlin said on Sunday during a visit to Netivot that “it is still possible to build a government” and that the gaps between the parties were “personal.” “There is no need for an additional election,” Rivlin said. “I call upon Likud and Blue and White to get their act together.”
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