Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar! party, has proposed a major merger in the opposition between himself, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and ex-prime minister Naftali Bennett’s new party, Israeli television reported Tuesday.
Channel 12 news said both Lapid and Bennett have courted Eisenkot to join their slates, but that he wants to bring them both together in a joint platform he believes could net some 40 seats in general elections later this year, overtaking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud as the largest Knesset faction.
Bennett’s still-unnamed party has been polling at around 22-24 seats in recent surveys, Yesh Atid at 7-9 and Eisenkot at 9-11 in the 120-member Knesset. However, it is unknown whether a joint slate would be worth more than the sum of its parts, or possibly less — right-wing Israelis who might vote for Bennett may not necessarily be fans of Lapid, the opposition leader.
The report does not provide sourcing. None of the three politicians has publicly commented on it.
According to Channel 12, the head of the electoral alliance would not be chosen until closer to election day, with the decision based on who polls suggest has the best chance of winning. Recent television surveys have indicated both Netanyahu’s bloc and the parties currently in opposition would struggle to form a government if elections were held today.
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The network also said Eisenkot proposed to Bennett and Lapid that their joint electoral list draw up a statement of shared principles, which would be signed by the secularist right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party and left-wing the Democrats.
The TV report came as Bennett challenged Netanyahu to a debate on Thursday “at any time and place.”
“I’m not looking to humiliate Netanyahu, I intend to replace him,” he said during an event in the northern city of Karmiel. “I need to bring along everyone and I don’t want to trample anyone. I just want to win.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and former prime minister Naftali Bennett (right) attend the funeral of Rabbi Haim Drukman, at Merkaz Shapira, near Kiryat Malachi, on December 26, 2022. (Gil Cohen-Magen/ AFP)
Israel has not had a debate between leading candidates for the premiership since 1996, when Netanyahu squared off with then-prime minister Shimon Peres. Netanyahu went on to win that election.
Televised election debates were a staple of Israeli elections between 1977 and 1996, but then fell out of favor with incumbents and front-runner candidates who often viewed them as an unnecessary risk.
Netanyahu has shown little interest in debates since returning to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2009, though ahead of elections in March 2020 he challenged Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to a debate, which the latter rejected.
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