{"id":628508,"date":"2026-09-26T21:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/628508\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T21:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:40:12","slug":"yair-lapid-hosts-change-bloc-leaders-to-coordinate-pre-election-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/628508\/","title":{"rendered":"Yair Lapid hosts ‘change bloc’ leaders to coordinate pre-election strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opposition party leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Saturday evening and signed a document agreeing on shared principles and pledging to work together<\/a> ahead of the October elections.<\/p>\n

The meeting took place between the four main party leaders in the bloc: Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar), Naftali Bennett (B\u2019Yachad), Avigdor Liberman<\/a> (Yisrael Beytenu), and Yair Golan (The Democrats).<\/p>\n

The joint document signed by the party leaders included a commitment to work together to increase voter turnout and a pledge not to launch attacks against each other, along with a plan to formulate principles for the next government.<\/p>\n

The document did not address how the leader of the opposition bloc should be determined. Eisenkot has called for the leader of the largest party to be a candidate for prime minister.<\/p>\n

The meeting was held at opposition leader Yair Lapid\u2019s house. Lapid<\/a> holds the second slot on the B\u2019Yachad slate. Arab party leaders were not invited to the meeting.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Prime Minister and Together party leader Naftali Bennett is seen with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid as they arrive for a press conference as part of the B’Yachad party election campaign in Tel Aviv, central Israel, August 19, 2026. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Bennett said after the meeting that he was confident in the bloc\u2019s \u201cability to win 63 seats and, together, fix Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone understood the magnitude of the moment and put aside all personal considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed on full cooperation until the election, on Election Day and after the election, in order to establish a government of correction for Israel,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Change bloc leaders hold meeting to coordinate ahead of October elections<\/p>\n

The meeting comes as the bloc\u2019s leaders seek to tighten coordination while grappling with disagreements over election strategy, the identity of the candidate who will lead the camp, and possible paths toward forming a government after the elections. Some of those disagreements have already spilled into the public arena in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot<\/a> and Liberman met at Yashar\u2019s offices on Wednesday, their second meeting in about two weeks.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot addressed coordination within the camp on Wednesday, telling 103FM, \u201cThere are weekly meetings to coordinate between the parties, and there are also substantive disagreements. We have a common goal, and I am certain it will be expressed by the elections and will lead to us defeating this failed government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting at Lapid\u2019s home took place against the backdrop of efforts to coordinate among parties that differ in their positions and voter bases.<\/p>\n

Alongside their shared objective of replacing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, the camp\u2019s leaders have yet to reach full agreement on who should be their candidate for prime minister or on some of the coalition issues that would arise after the elections.<\/p>\n

Relations among the key players have also been tense. Over the past week, Eisenkot and figures in Yisrael Beytenu have exchanged remarks after Liberman\u2019s party criticized the strategy led by the Yashar chairman.<\/p>\n

MK Oded Forer, one of Yisrael Beytenu\u2019s senior figures, said last week that Eisenkot was \u201cfueling Bibi\u2019s campaign\u201d and that winning would require drawing votes from other political camps as well.<\/p>\n

According to a Maariv poll published on Friday, the coalition bloc fell by one seat to just 49 as both haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties lost one seat each.<\/p>\n

The poll also found that Otzma Yehudit gained one seat, rising to nine, while Likud remained at 18 seats, the Religious Zionist Party-Zehut joint list at six, and People of Israel at four.<\/p>\n

In the opposition bloc, Eisenkot\u2019s Yashar continued its downward trend, losing another seat this week to stand at 22.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the bloc, The Democrats gained two seats to reach 11, while B\u2019Yachad remained at 13 and Yisrael Beytenu at nine. The joint Reservists-Economic Party remained at four seats, while the Arab parties also remained unchanged with a combined 12 seats. Overall, the Zionist opposition bloc gained one seat, rising to 55.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Blue and White, led by Benny Gantz, received 1.3% of the vote; the Haredi Public party, led by Moti Leitner, received 0.9%; and Noam for Israel, led by Avi Maoz, received 0.7%. None crossed the electoral threshold.<\/p>\n

Asked which party they would vote for if Knesset elections were held now, respondents gave Yashar 22 seats, Likud 18, B\u2019Yachad 13, The Democrats 11, Yisrael Beytenu nine, Otzma Yehudit nine, the Joint Arab List seven, United Torah Judaism six, Shas six, Religious Zionist Party-Zehut six, Ra\u2019am five, People of Israel four, and the Reservists-Economic Party four.\u2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opposition party leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Saturday evening and signed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13135,42,46,954,953,43,40,38,41,39,19344,268648,110220],"class_list":["post-628508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-democrats","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-israeli-politics","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-yair-lapid","tag-yashar-party","tag-yisrael-beytenu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628508","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=628508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}