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In its almost 72-year history, Israeli politics has produced numerous surprises, but few episodes have offered such a dramatic and unexpected turnaround as the one seen on Thursday in the Knesset . A day that was to crown Meir Cohen of the center-left party Yesh Atid (one of the three members of the Blue and White bloc) as Speaker of Parliament, significantly raising pressure on acting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud). , has ended with a political earthquake with two dramatic effects: the immediate one, the end of the centrist project of 'Blue and White' as it was created in late 2018, and in the medium term the creation of the formation of a unity government.

What is the earthquake that none of the acidic Israeli veterans and political commentators had anticipated? The election of the leader of Blue and White Benny Gantz as president of the Knesset with the support of his staunch rival Netanyahu and his bloc to guarantee the future signing of a government of unity rotation and with the outraged boycott of his partner, the leader of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, with whom he formed the powerful center-left bloc to end a decade of Bibi in power.

In his speech at the Knesset lectern, emptied by the coronavirus, Gantz has justified his decision to "attempt the formation of an emergency unit government", alleging the deep division in the population - multiplied after three tough electoral campaigns since 9 April 2019- and above all the difficult situation the country is experiencing due to Covid-19. "These are not normal days and that is why non-normal decisions are needed , " he said after being congratulated by those Likud deputies who yesterday accused him of "novice" or "mentally unstable" and criticized by the center-left legislators who saw him this morning. even as "the great hope to replace the corrupt Netanyahu".

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