Netanyahu rival fails to form government, pushing Israel toward third election

Benny Gantz, the chief political rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Wednesday that he had failed to form a new government before a looming midnight deadline, propelling a deeply divided Israel into a new, uncharted phase of political chaos and increasing the likelihood of a third election in a year.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Gantz’s Blue and White party said he had informed Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, that he had been unable to form a government.

Israel has been gripped by political paralysis since April, when the first of two inconclusive elections was held. The second took place in September.

In both elections, Gantz and Netanyahu emerged neck and neck, each falling well short of a majority. Each was given a chance to assemble a majority coalition and failed. At this point, there is no guarantee that a third vote would produce a significantly different outcome.

The charge of forming a government now goes to Israel’s parliament, which will have 21 days to come up with a candidate — any candidate, including Netanyahu or Gantz — who could command a majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat house.

The Blue and White statement said that Gatnz “will continue his efforts over the next 21 days to form a good government for the citizens of Israel.”

If that final stage, which Israel is entering for the first time in its history, also fails to produce a government, parliament would be dissolved and Israel would start preparing for its next election, most likely in the spring.

Both Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and leader of the conservative Likud, and Gantz, a centrist and relative political newcomer, have said they wanted to join forces in a broad government of national unity based on their two large parties. But they have failed three times to agree on a...