{"id":565713,"date":"2026-07-29T19:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/565713\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T19:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:33:10","slug":"mk-sharren-haskel-says-israel-first-party-can-unite-benjamin-netanyahu-gadi-eisenkot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/565713\/","title":{"rendered":"MK Sharren Haskel says Israel First Party can unite Benjamin Netanyahu, Gadi Eisenkot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel First Party leader MK Sharren Haskel said her newly launched party would need only six Knesset seats to reshape the country\u2019s next government after the upcoming elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview that her party could allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s bloc and the opposition to form a broad Zionist coalition rather than rely on haredi (ultra-Orthodox) or Arab parties.<\/p>\n

Haskel<\/a>\u2019s plan involved a government that could consist of both parties from Netanyahu\u2019s bloc and the opposition bloc seeking to oust the premier in the upcoming elections, set for October 27. The Yashar Party led by Gadi Eisenkot has been the leading party in the opposition bloc in recent polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to build a bloc of six mandates that will not allow Netanyahu<\/a> to build a bloc with the ultra-Orthodox and will not allow Eisenkot to build a bloc with the Arabs,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not in the pocket of either of them, and I\u2019m going to force both of them at the end of the day to sit together. And yes, it is most likely that Netanyahu will get most of the mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to sit together. Otherwise, we continue in the cycle of hatred, of poisoning our people, of division, and of concentrating on one thing: a person instead of security, a person instead of the economy, a person instead of education,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\"MKMK Sharren Haskel speaks to The Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2026. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see this map, I know we have to stop this political math of camps, and we have to build Israel first as people who want to see security first, the economy first, before personalized politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haskel said that the only option for Israel to have a united Zionist coalition was through a broad government that would not include either the Arab or haredi parties. She also ruled out left-wing Democrats party leader Yair Golan<\/a> from a coalition, stating that the remarks he had made in the past caused him not to be a viable Zionist partner.<\/p>\n

Haskel: Golan damaged Israel’s global reputation<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really afraid that someone like Golan with … 12, 14 mandates will receive six ministers [in the next government]. He lied about the IDF, about Israeli soldiers. He blackened our name in the international community, in the media. I struggled with it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s no other parliament member \u2013 Left, Right, coalition, opposition, or minister \u2013 that had more interviews in foreign media than what I did, and I had to deal with the result of his actions, of his lies,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Haskel had announced earlier this month that she was resigning from the government after the Knesset passed legislation freezing the arrests of haredi draft evaders, saying she could no longer stand behind the government\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n

She has been a fierce critic of the series of legislation being advanced by the haredi parties \u2013 with government backing \u2013 which critics argue encourages draft evasion, even amid the IDF\u2019s severe manpower crisis.<\/p>\n

Following her resignation, she announced that she would be launching her new right-wing political party called Israel First.<\/p>\n

Haskel\u2019s resignation also came amid reports of various right-wing figures considering joining or creating a new right-wing party ahead of the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

Other names raised in connection with talks about forming the alternative party are former Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan and Likud MK Yuli Edelstein.<\/p>\n

Haskel seeking alliances with those who will govern alongside Netanyahu<\/p>\n

Speaking on potential alliances with her party and others, Haskel said that she would consider alliances with those who see themselves as able to be part of a broad Zionist government and would be willing to sit in a government with Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been discussing that there are many good people who should come and join forces together. I think that … there\u2019s a lot of good people that need to be in the system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said that there should be \u201cno boycotting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot continue with this madness. We need to put Israel first, and put security first. Bibi [Netanyahu] is not at the top of our priority. If he\u2019s prime minister, he will be chosen to be a prime minister,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Addressing her resignation, Haskel said that the legislative blitz that passed numerous contentious laws in the Knesset in its last week before the recess was corrupt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we are at war, our soldiers are being stretched to their max.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re paying the highest prices during the last three years. I mean, this is family, economic prices, physical injuries, emotional everything. And for a year and a half, I\u2019ve been at war to make sure that I watch their back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haskel explained that she had not resigned earlier throughout the government\u2019s term because she did not think the legislation would be passed, and that she believed it could fight it from within the coalition.<\/p>\n

Though Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, leader of the New Hope-United Right Party, which she was part of, announced last year that he would return to Likud, Haskel said that joining the party was not an option for her.<\/p>\n

Speaking on why she could not return to Likud, Haskel said that it was not the party she grew up with and that she could no longer align with its values.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven Netanyahu knows that the Likud is not the Likud that we knew. He was [even] trying to cancel the primaries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the policies that her party would be pushing for, Haskel said that she was \u201cvery hawkish on security. I am extremely liberal on the economic side \u2013 less taxes, less regulation, less government involvement, less bureaucracy. And so I know … my DNA, my philosophy, everything. It\u2019s liberty. It\u2019s freedom. Right. And for me to be able to say that is heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haskel said her party could function as a new home for right-wing voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the polls are showing that there\u2019s 10% of Israelis, the vast majority of them are on the Right side of the map, and they feel homeless. They feel deserted. They feel they don\u2019t have a political home. So I said, enough with the talks, enough with everything. I\u2019m building a political home. Israel first,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to run with it. I\u2019m going to get everybody together. I\u2019m going to build the railways. I\u2019m going to build… the train, and we\u2019re going to build all the infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to start with campaigns, and we\u2019re going to call all the good people in the Right to come and join forces together, because I truly believe the next elections are critical,\u201d Haskel said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel First Party leader MK Sharren Haskel said her newly launched party would need only six Knesset seats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,4410,955,85,46,43,238,71157],"class_list":["post-565713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-elections","tag-gadi-eisenkot","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-sharren-haskel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}