Benny Gantz met with IDF chief of staff amid ‘security challenges’

Gantz requested the meeting, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, authorized it.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi met with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, himself a former IDF chief of staff, on Wednesday.
The meeting addressed “security challenges and regional developments,” the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said.
Gantz requested the meeting, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, authorized it.
Talks between Gantz and Netanyahu have been stalled for weeks, with Blue and White refusing to sit in a government while Netanyahu is under a recommended or actual indictment, and Likud insisting on negotiating as a 55-seat right-wing bloc and not an individual party.
Netanyahu has repeatedly cited security concerns as a reason to form a unity government as soon as possible.
Last month, at a Likud event, Netanyahu said “at this time, Israel needs a [unity] government because we are facing great challenges. Something happened here in recent weeks. It’s a different Middle East. Iran is standing against us on all fronts…There is only one military force standing against Iran and that is us, the State of Israel.”