Former IDF chief of staff and Yashar! Party leader Gadi Eisenkot on Monday called on opposition leaders to convene a coordination meeting to secure a 61-seat “Zionist and statesmanlike” majority to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections.
The invitation follows Sunday’s announcement by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid of their new unified party, Together, in which they also publicly called on Eisenkot to join them.
Eisenkot said he reached out on Monday to the parties he described as the “Hope Bloc.”
Among those invited to meet were Bennett and Lapid’s Together Party, MK Avigdor Liberman’s right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, and the left-wing Democrats Party, led by Yair Golan.
MK Benny Gantz, who leads the Blue and White Party, was excluded from the invitation. His party has failed to pass the electoral threshold in recent polls, and Gantz has indicated that he would not entirely object to teaming up with Netanyahu.
Following Bennett and Lapid’s press conference calling on Eisenkot to join them, he responded that the focus should be on increasing votes for the opposition bloc as a whole.
He said he had spoken with both Lapid and Bennett on Sunday evening, and told them that the only goal before him was a “victory for a statesmanlike, Zionist coalition.”
“I hope this is the goal of all partners,” he added.
“For that victory to happen, we need to bring in more votes; that’s our only test,” Eisenkot said.
“Every alliance should be judged by that, with responsibility, sound judgment, and the right timing," he added.
Bennett had openly called on Eisenkot to join the unified party during the press conference announcing his partnership with Lapid.
“We are charging forward to victory. Gadi, our door is open to you as well,” Bennett said.
Eisenkot had previously been offered to join Bennett’s party but said last month that he declined, as he did not want to serve as second-in-command.
It remains unclear how the merger between Bennett and Lapid will affect the opposition bloc’s overall chances of ousting Netanyahu, as they have vowed not to form a coalition with opposition Arab parties.
Recent polls have shown Bennett’s party neck and neck with Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, while Eisenkot’s Yashar! trails the two, sometimes overtaking Bennett’s list.
Meanwhile, Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party had weakened in the polls, standing at around six or seven seats.
There have been reports that members within Yesh Atid are considering leaving the party. However, other MKs have voiced strong support for the alliance between Bennett and Lapid, and have called on Eisenkot to join as well.
'The only thing missing' is Eisenkot, lawmakers say
MK Merav Ben Ari (Yesh Atid) said she was not surprised by Lapid and Bennett joining forces.
“The only thing that was missing for me, and I admit it, was Gadi," she said in a Monday Radio 103fm interview.
"We called on him yesterday, and I very much hope he joins. He’s an excellent person and should be part of this wonderful group that will replace this government,” Ben Ari added.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon, who recently joined Yesh Atid, also called on Eisenkot on Monday to join the alliance “so that we can win.”
Liberman said on Monday that he congratulated Bennett and Lapid on their decision to unite, and added that the move showed that now Yisrael Beytenu is the only party that is “truly a liberal right-wing party.”
“We must all remember that our shared goal is to replace the government of October 7,” Liberman added.