Israeli Politicsupdated 46m ago3 min read
Zionist Opposition Leaders Sign Non-Aggression Pact To Oust Benjamin Netanyahu In October 27 Election
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Five Zionist opposition leaders signed a non-aggression pact to oust Netanyahu before Oct 27. Lapid and Naftali Bennett participated; pact signed at Lapid's Tel Aviv home.
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Opposition pact before vote
Five leading members of Israel’s self-styled Zionist opposition signed a non-aggression pact on September 26 to seek to oust incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in the October 27 election. The leaders met at the Tel Aviv home of opposition leader Yair Lapid, with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Golan, and Avigdor Liberman gathered as part of the effort to form a Zionist, statesmanlike government dedicated to repair and reconstruction. Ahron Bregman, an Israeli analyst and senior teaching fellow at King’s College London, said the dominant forces in the opposition such as Bennett, Liberman or Eisenkot represent right-wing politics and are not willing to touch the Palestinian issue and the Palestinian aspirations for independence.
The Al Jazeera report said none of the candidates, with only the Democrats acknowledging it as a distant, unspecified goal, is committed to establishing a Palestinian state, and it said none, Golan included, accepts that Israel’s war on Gaza amounts to genocide or that it has committed war crimes in killing more than 74,000 people there. The report also said the opposition leaders reserved criticism mostly for how actions against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Qatar and Iran have allowed Israel to be perceived internationally, rather than questioning those actions themselves.
Liberman vs Eisenkot
Avigdor Liberman accused Gadi Eizenkot of seeking to form a government with Benjamin Netanyahu after the anticipated Israeli elections, as the general election approached on October 27. Liberman wrote on the X platform that Eizenkot is planning for the post-election phase, and he said Eizenkot is seeking to form a government including Netanyahu, Goldknopf, and Deri from Shas while keeping the option of a ‘minority government’ on the table as leverage against Netanyahu. Eizenkot responded without directly denying the accusations by calling for focus on changing Netanyahu’s government without denying the possibility of joining a government headed by him, and he urged Israelis seeking change not to be preoccupied with political maneuvering.
Eizenkot said the upcoming elections will be “the most fateful since the founding of the state,” and he said he aims to secure a Knesset majority of over 61 seats in the 120-member parliament. The Times of Israel reported that Liberman called Eisenkot “Gantz 2” and accused him of planning for the day after the election to negotiate with Netanyahu from a position of strength.
Deadlock, unity talk, portfolios
An Israeli opinion poll published by Maariv showed Netanyahu’s bloc and the Israeli opposition bloc tied in seats expected in the Knesset, with neither side obtaining the majority needed to form a government. The poll said 55% of those polled favored forming a national unity government if the upcoming election does not produce a decisive result, while 27% preferred returning to the ballot boxes and 18% said they did not know. The poll projected that Netanyahu’s bloc and the Jewish opposition bloc would each win 51 seats out of 120, and it said any government coalition needs at least 61 seats to secure the Knesset’s confidence.
In parallel, Netanyahu repeated his pledge that he will not appoint Itamar Ben Gvir as defense minister following the October 27 election, and the Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu said both the National Security Ministry and the Education Ministry would be controlled by Likud in the next government. Otzma Yehudit fired back, saying “The cat is out of the bag,” and it accused Netanyahu of planning to exclude Ben Gvir and Otzma Yehudit from the next coalition, bring in Eisenkot instead, and hand portfolios over to the left.