Netanyahu once again couldn't form an Israeli government. His chief competitor will now get a chance.

(Image credit: Sebastian Scheiner/AP)

published 21 October 2019

Maybe the third time's the charm.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition for the second time this year, returning a mandate to President Reuven Rivlin two days before his 28-day deadline. Rivlin will now pass the mandate along to Benny Gantz, the leader of the center-left Blue and White Party and chief competitor to Netanyahu.

Rivlin had pushed Blue and White and Netanyahu's conservative Likud party to form a unity government, but talks fell apart when the sides wouldn't budge on key demands, The Washington Post reports. Most notably, Blue and White accused Netanyahu of caring more about staying in power than anything and maintained its longstanding refusal to back him as prime minister while he braces for an indictment on corruption charges. The two sides were reportedly nearing a compromise that included Gantz and Netanyahu sharing a rotating prime minister's role, with Gantz effectively taking over if Netanyahu's legal troubles persisted. But Gantz ultimately didn't agree to it.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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