Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Head of the Yisrael Beytenu Party MK Avigdor Liberman, met on Wednesday to discuss ways to replace the government, among other topics related to the country, the two shared in a statement.
The two said that they talked about replacing the government "as soon as possible in order to fix Israel.”
They also said that they discussed the continuation of the war in Gaza, negotiations for a hostage deal, and the Israeli economy.
Liberman added that he had emphasized to Bennett the need to advance guidelines for the future government ahead of the elections and “ensure maximum coordination between all the Zionist parties.”
The next elections are currently scheduled to take place in October 2026.
Before the meeting, Liberman requested that Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) arrange a meeting to formulate “guiding principles” for the next government.
In the letter, Liberman requested that all heads of Zionist opposition parties, along with former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot and Bennett, be included in the meeting.
Liberman calls for an urgent meeting on guiding principles
Liberman called for the meeting to be held “as soon as possible” to allow for the formulation of the guiding principles, which “must reflect broad agreements on the central issues on the national agenda.”
Bennett, included in Liberman’s letter, officially registered a political party under the name “Bennett 2026” in April this year.
Bennett and Lapid had formed a national unity government in June 2021. During the coalition agreement, Bennett served as prime minister from June 2021 until July 2022, with Lapid succeeding him until the government was dissolved in December 2022.