In Israel, Gantz and Netanyahu Start Talks on Possible Unity Government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief opponent, Benny Gantz, agreed Monday to begin talks for a possible power-sharing deal after last week’s election left Israel in political gridlock.

After meeting for more than two hours at the office of President Reuven Rivlin, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz issued a joint statement saying that they had “discussed ways to advance Israel’s unity” at Mr. Rivlin’s behest, and that their negotiating teams would meet on Tuesday.

But serious obstacles remain, not least the question of who would serve first as prime minister under a possible agreement to rotate the premiership.

Mr. Rivlin, who has been calling for a unity government, called the meeting “ a significant step forward.”

“The people expect you to find a solution and to prevent further elections, even if it comes at a personal and even ideological cost,” he admonished the two candidates, adding: “A shared and equal government is possible. It can and it must express the different voices in society.”

He invited Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu to meet again at his residence on Wednesday.

Mr. Rivlin’s role is largely ceremonial, but after last week’s inconclusive vote it is up to him to decide who will get the first crack at forming a government and becoming prime minister. For now he appears to have deferred that decision in the hope that the two men, whose parties won the most votes in the election, can work out a deal on their own.

“This is one of the rare instances where the president has a chance to be more than a rubber stamp,” said Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at the Israel Democracy Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A unifying and soothing voice whose office normally elevates him above Israel’s political and social fray, Mr. Rivlin has said his conclusion, based on the election results, was that the divided public had in essence voted for a government of national unity that includes both major parties — Mr. Gantz’s centrist Blue and White, and Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud.

Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz support the idea of a unity government in principle, but on different, and possibly mutually exclusive, terms.

Mr. Gantz has said that he would not join a coalition with Mr. Netanyahu as long as he is facing possible indictment in three corruption cases. He has also said that he wanted to form a broad, secular coalition, excluding ultra-Orthodox parties.

Mr. Netanyahu could be charged in the corruption cases in a matter of weeks. And he promised his right-wing and religious coalition partners last week that they would stick together in coalition negotiations. One of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the group has vowed not to sit in a government with the no. 2 in Blue and White, Yair Lapid.

Ultimately, any arrangement between Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu would require a level of trust, Mr. Rahat said, that he said would be “difficult to build between them.”

But the meeting and joint photos on Monday began to normalize the idea that Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu could conceivably sit together in a joint government.

“The entire conflict at the moment revolves around who will serve first as prime minister and who will serve second,” Avigdor Liberman, the leader of a secular nationalist party, said on Facebook after an earlier meeting with Mr. Gantz on Monday.

In a message to his party members after the meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Gantz wrote, “We have no intention of relinquishing our lead,” suggesting that he will insist on being first.

Mr. Rivlin will receive the final, official results of the Sept. 17 election on Wednesday. He then has up to seven days to appoint a candidate to form a government. If Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu have reached an agreement by then, he would presumably go along with their choice.

Mr. Rivlin, 80, an often jovial Likud veteran and former Parliament speaker, is known to be no fan of Mr. Netanyahu’s. The pair have a long history of personal and political rivalry. As party leader, Mr. Netanyahu tried to block Mr. Rivlin’s candidacy in the presidential election in 2014, even looking into the possibility of abolishing the presidency.

But Mr. Rivlin is considered fair and professional, and enjoys the public’s confidence. In Israel Democracy Institute surveys, the presidency consistently polls as Israel’s most trusted institution after the military.

The president’s call to Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz on Monday came soon after a parade of party representatives finished making their recommendations to Mr. Rivlin about whom they supported to form the next government.

Under the law, he can choose any elected lawmaker he believes has the best chance of forming a stable coalition, though traditionally the appointment has gone to the head of the party or alliance of parties with the most seats in Parliament.

Blue and White came out of the election with 33 seats, slightly ahead of Likud’s 31, but neither party gained enough support from smaller, allied parties to command a majority of 61 in the 120-seat Parliament.

By the end of their consultations with Mr. Rivlin, Mr. Netanyahu had the support of parties holding 55 seats, compared with 54 for Mr. Gantz.

Mr. Liberman, whose Yisrael Beiteinu party won eight seats, has refrained from taking sides, hoping to play kingmaker. He advocates a secular unity government led by Likud and Blue and White that excludes Mr. Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies.

After an election in April produced similarly divided results, Mr. Rivlin tapped Mr. Netanyahu to form a governing coalition, but he was unable to, leading to the new vote last week.

In one of the many twists of this redo election, Arab lawmakers abandoned 27 years of noninvolvement on Sunday and recommended Mr. Gantz. They have no love of him and said they would not join in a government led by him, but they do want to unseat Mr. Netanyahu.

With its 13 seats, the Joint List, an alliance of predominantly Arab parties, momentarily gave Mr. Gantz’s parliamentary bloc the support of 57 lawmakers, but by Monday morning things had changed. Three lawmakers from the most hard-line party in the alliance opposed the recommendation, taking Mr. Gantz down to 54.

At a party meeting in Parliament on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu repeated his call for a unity government. After running a divisive campaign, he said unity required “an outstretched hand for true national reconciliation.”

Pointing to the great discretion the president has to shape that process, an Israeli political reporter for the Walla news site, Tal Shalev, posted a reminder on Twitter on Monday that the law does not require Mr. Rivlin to appoint the head of the largest party, or the contender with the most recommendations.

Mr. Rivlin replied, “I believe you’re right, dear Tal.”