Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot is floating a major political gambit: a broad opposition merger that would unite his Yashar! party with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and a new political vehicle being formed by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, according to a report aired by Channel 12.

The report says both Lapid and Bennett have separately sought to recruit Eisenkot onto their respective slates ahead of Israel’s next general election, expected later this year.

Eisenkot, however, is said to be pushing for a joint framework that would consolidate the three centrist and center-right forces into a single bloc — a move he believes could secure as many as 40 seats in the 120-member Knesset.

Current polling suggests the arithmetic is at least plausible on paper. Bennett’s still-unnamed party has been polling between 22 and 24 seats, while Yesh Atid has hovered around 7 to 9 seats. Eisenkot’s own party has polled at roughly 9 to 11 seats in recent surveys. Combined, those figures would place the bloc within striking distance of a governing coalition.

But political analysts caution that the whole may not necessarily exceed — or even match — the sum of its parts. Channel 12 noted that some right-leaning voters drawn to Bennett may be reluctant to support a slate that includes Lapid, the current opposition leader, whose political brand remains polarizing among conservatives.

The report did not cite specific sources, and as of Tuesday none of the three politicians had publicly confirmed or denied the talks. Still, the possibility of a unified opposition list underscores the growing maneuvering underway as Israel’s fractured political system once again begins positioning for an election campaign.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)