Former IDF chief of staff and Yashar! Party leader Gadi Eisenkot publicly rejected an offer from former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to merge their parties ahead of Israel’s upcoming elections, declaring Saturday that he had no intention of playing second fiddle to anyone.

“I believe in myself, I know the kind of leadership I bring, and I see myself as a very strong candidate,” Eisenkot said in a Channel 12 interview Saturday evening. “I didn’t leave Benny Gantz as a number two just to become Naftali Bennett’s number two.”

Before resigning from the Knesset in June, Eisenkot had served as second-in-command in MK Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party. He announced the formation of his own Yashar! Party in September, a move widely interpreted as strategic positioning ahead of potential opposition consolidation before elections that must take place no later than October.

Eisenkot also pushed back on suggestions that he had been slow to respond to Bennett’s proposal, which was reportedly made roughly six months ago. “He received a ‘no’ as an answer immediately,” Eisenkot said flatly.

Bennett responded the same evening with a party statement urging unity regardless. “Israel needs unity that will bring about a major victory,” the Bennett 2026 Party said, describing its earlier offer to Eisenkot as “generous” and warning that “the public will not forgive those who prevent victory.” The statement closed with a direct appeal: “Gadi, let’s unite and win.”

Earlier this month, Bennett had cited a Midgam company study on social media claiming that a unified ticket led by Bennett and including Eisenkot would be positioned to win the elections outright.

Bennett is currently the leading rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, consistently polling as the runner-up in recent surveys. Eisenkot’s party has also gained traction and trails not far behind.

The public back-and-forth drew sharp criticism from a third opposition figure, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who urged both men to take their negotiations off television.

“All these discussions on television about who is number one and who is number two only cause damage. This is not how you create unifications,” Lapid said Saturday evening, adding that he would handle any alliances “quietly, at the right time, and as far away as possible from cameras and reporters.”

Lapid doubled down at a Sunday press conference at the Knesset. “What is this for? Why are you conducting this on television? Why are you arguing in the media? Please, I ask you, stop this now,” he said, pointing to his own track record of brokering major political mergers as evidence that discretion was essential to success.

Lapid also issued a broader warning about the stakes involved. “We are facing a dangerous, unrestrained, experienced rival who will stop at nothing,” he said of Netanyahu. “Anyone who plays ego games harms that victory.”

Eisenkot had previously proposed a broader three-way unified list with both Bennett and Lapid in January, aimed at assembling enough seats to defeat Netanyahu’s Likud. No public progress on that proposal has been reported.

The episode underscores the persistent fragmentation challenges facing Israel’s opposition bloc. While joint electoral lists are a well-established feature of Israeli politics — United Torah Judaism has united Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah since 1992 — such arrangements frequently prove temporary. The National Unity Party, which united Gantz’s Blue and White with Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope, dissolved in 2024. Full mergers are rarer still, though Labor and Meretz did combine last year to form The Democrats Party.

For now, the opposition’s path to defeating Netanyahu appears complicated as much by internal jockeying as by the prime minister himself.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)