Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed President Reuven Rivlin on Monday that his efforts to form a majority governing coalition in parliament have failed after almost of month of trying, The Washington Post reports. Rivlin will likely call on Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party and a rival of Netanyahu’s, to try and form the governing coalition. “Ever since receiving the mandate [to form a government] I have worked relentlessly… to establish a broad national unity government. This is what the people wants,” Netanyahu said in a video statement posted to Facebook, according to Haaretz. The prime minister claimed he tried to bring Gantz to the negotiating table to “prevent another election,” but said Gantz “refused time after time.” Gantz, if tapped to try and form the coalition, will be given 28 days to do so.
