The Times of Israel reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured his religious right-wing political partners Monday night that he would stick to his pact to negotiate as a bloc with them, after agreeing to launch unity talks with chief rival Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party.
At the same time, Gantz told his party members that he would not abandon his promise to the voters not to let Netanyahu remain prime minister, indicating the political gridlock which has left Israel without a government for months could persist.
Netanyahu last week had the Yamina, Shas and UTJ parties sign an agreement with his own Likud party to negotiate as a group, after elections that saw the right-wing and religious parties fail to garner enough support to form a coalition on their own. Gantz and his center-left partners also fell short of the needed 61 seats.
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