Newly elected Knesset Speaker says goodbye to Yair Lapid and Moshe Ya'alon: Thank you for the path we went down together over the past year.

Newly elected Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz, chairman of the Israel Resilience Party, on Thursday night explained his decision to form a unity government with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Gantz thanked his partners from Blue and White who split from Israel Resilience and formed an independent faction.

“Yair [Lapid], Bogie [Ya’alon], thank you for the path we went down together over the past year. In my eyes, you will always be patriots who love the country and work for it wherever you are."

Explaining his decision to go with Netanyahu, Gantz said, “At the end of the day, I believe that Israel should not be dragged into a fourth election in such a challenging period when the country is facing the coronavirus crisis and its consequences, and we disagreed over this. Israel comes first.”

For now, it appears as though Gantz and the Israel Resilience Party will receive the Foreign, Defense, Justice, Communications and Culture Ministries, as well as the chairmanship of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Channel 13 News reported on Thursday that the other right-wing parties will receive, among other things, the Finance Ministry, the Knesset Speaker, the Transportation Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Internal Security, the Ministry of Health and the Finance Committee. Yuli Edelstein is expected to be appointed Knesset Speaker and return to the post he held for the last seven years.