Last ditch effort: Netanyahu offered to resign, let Gantz serve as PM

June 12, 2021

Gantz is set to lose his role of Alternate Prime Minister to incoming Foreign Minister and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, though he will retain the role of Defense Minister, since his party is expected to enter the coalition. According to the report, Gantz received offers from several sources close to Netanyahu - the last of which came a little after midnight on Thursday - with Netanyahu's team telling Gantz "he's ready to resign this morning." Had Netanyahu resigned on Friday morning, Gantz would have the safety of knowing that he could return to the unity government with Lapid and incoming Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, since Netanyahu would only have had 48 hours to retract the resignation letter. However, Gantz's team rejected the offers outright, despite the fact that they would have potentially allowed him to serve 3 years as prime minister, while Netanyahu would serve as an MK. In his attempts to thwart the formation of the Bennett-Lapid government, Netanyahu has also offered p