Questions are mounting within Yahar leader Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc over former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s position on efforts to form a government with the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, as Eisenkot and Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Liberman remain divided over the proposed coalition framework and the compromises required on military conscription, according to political sources in the bloc.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Eisenkot on Saturday night to form a national unity government.
Negotiations to establish an Eisenkot bloc government continue to expose disagreements among the potential coalition partners, with questions now emerging about Bennett’s position.
While Eisenkot and Liberman are working to bring the haredi parties into the coalition, bloc members are questioning whether Bennett will support the emerging framework, particularly the agreements required on military conscription.
There is no consensus within the Eisenkot bloc on how to bring the haredi parties into the government. Eisenkot and Liberman ultimately seek the same coalition but disagree over the timing and whether they can secure Shas’s agreement at this stage.
Eisenkot believes that waiting for Shas chairman Arye Deri could delay forming a government and therefore wants to proceed in stages. Liberman, by contrast, believes an agreement can be reached with haredi parties from the outset and prefers not to rely on Shas joining the coalition later.
Bennett avoids taking a position on haredi draft concessions
Eisenkot’s other partners in the bloc have not expressed a clear position on the matter. The bloc’s leaders have stressed that they “support Eisenkot and trust him,” but are not currently involved in managing negotiations with the haredi parties.
Alongside the disagreement between Eisenkot and Liberman, however, the bloc is also raising questions about Bennett’s conduct. At this stage, his position on the framework Eisenkot is promoting remains unclear, particularly regarding possible compromises with the haredi parties over military conscription.
“Naftali has lowered his profile and imposed silence on himself regarding the contentious issues and negotiations with the haredi parties,” a source in the Eisenkot bloc said.
“While Liberman is absorbing most of the criticism for lifting his veto on the haredi parties, and Eisenkot is being attacked for his willingness to bring them into the government, Bennett is avoiding addressing the issue,” the source continued. It added that the contrast between Bennett’s silence on the haredi issue and his continued messages about military service has raised questions among potential coalition partners.
“He continues to talk incessantly about looking after those who serve, as though the election campaign were still underway. The gap between his silence on the haredi issue and his statements about those who serve is raising questions among members of the Eisenkot bloc. It is unclear where he is headed,” the source added.
Indeed, in a post on his Facebook account, Bennett emphasized his commitment to equality in military service.
Bloc fears Bennett may prefer another election
“Redirecting funds from draft dodgers to those who serve is at the forefront of our agenda in the coming term,” he posted.
The suspicions surrounding Bennett are not new. At the opening of the Knesset session, his faction did not hold a media-open meeting, instead issuing a brief statement without allowing journalists to ask questions.
Bennett himself has continued to maintain a low media profile, even as negotiations to form the government progress.
Discussions among figures in the Eisenkot bloc have raised suspicions that Bennett is not necessarily committed to forming a government under the current framework and that he may believe another election could strengthen his political standing.
These are assessments by figures within the bloc, not a position Bennett has expressed publicly.
According to those sources, maintaining his principles on equality in military service and continuing to deliver messages opposing draft evasion, both of which were central to his election campaign, could also benefit him in the event of another election.
In the background, members of Bennett’s electoral list have also made statements regarding their willingness to advance a military conscription law as part of agreements with the haredi parties.
In closed discussions within the bloc, concerns have emerged that not all potential partners share the same vision of how the government should be formed or of the compromises that will be necessary to achieve that goal.
In other words, while Eisenkot is attempting to reach agreements with the haredi parties and Liberman is presenting his conditions, Bennett’s position remains an open question.
Netanyahu appealed to Eisenkot on Saturday night to meet with him without preconditions in an attempt to establish a national unity government.
Netanyahu said in a post on X/Twitter that his meeting on Thursday with Eisenkot had “only strengthened [his] understanding of how essential it is at this time to establish a national unity government – [one] that will include all the parties that support the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and that will be able to meet the immense and complex security challenges ahead.”
“The Iranian regime, which seeks to destroy Israel, is once again working to revive its nuclear program,” the prime minister added. “And let this be clear: This murderous regime, which did not hesitate to murder many thousands of its own people, will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against us.”
Netanyahu stated in an appeal to Eisenkot that “instead of trying to establish a shaky and dangerous government that will be unable to meet, even in part, the immense security and national challenges before us, let us do what is called for ... enter the room without preconditions, set aside all our disagreements and all our boycotts, and reach agreements for Israel’s security and future, including on the issue of conscription, which can be resolved together with representatives of the haredi public.”
Eisenkot called Netanyahu’s appeal “a political spin,” and said that the prime minister “knows full well that such a meeting for unity has already been scheduled.”
“It is set for tomorrow, between the negotiating teams of Yashar and Likud,” Eisenkot said. “My fellow Israelis, this is just the latest ruse: Netanyahu calls for negotiations – even though they have already been arranged – and claims to desire unity, yet he simultaneously desecrates a formal state proceeding in the Knesset, sowing division and incitement as if there were no tomorrow.”
He said that “such a trick won’t work” on him, and added that Netanyahu “knows that the conditions for joining an emergency government under my leadership include accepting the principles I have outlined and parting ways with the extremists.”