Benny Gantz, head of Resilience party and Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, Moshe Yaalon and Gabi Ashkenazi react at the end of a news conference to announce the formation of their joint party, following an alliance between their parties, in Tel Aviv, Israel February 21, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen.

New Israeli opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid pledged to keep their new Blue and White party together in order to “turn the Knesset into a battlefield” between them and reelected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We are going to the opposition in order to begin the next round,” Lapid said at a post-election press conference. “I am now informing the Likud, Netanyahu, and the coalition: We’re going to make your lives difficult — we will turn the Knesset into a battlefield.”

Said Lapid: “We didn’t win this round, but it is impossible to minimize our accomplishment in these elections.” He added that the two leaders “didn’t come here to sum up the 2019 campaign — we came here to open the 2020 election campaign.”

Gantz also spoke at the event, and emphasized Blue and White’s strong showing, which resulted in an electoral tie with Netanyahu’s Likud party, even though Blue and White is only 70 days old.

“The result is unprecedented,” he said.