Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot met Sunday night for the first time since Bennett formed the Together Party, as the two leading figures in polls of the anti-Netanyahu bloc seek to ease tensions and build cooperation.
Bennett, chairman of Together, hosted Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, at his home in Ra’anana. The meeting came after Bennett joined forces with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, a move that had caused friction with Eisenkot. It ended without concrete agreements.
“During their meeting, they discussed the steps required within the bloc of reform and hope ahead of the dissolution of the Knesset, leading it to victory and establishing a Zionist government based on an alliance of those who serve,” the two said in a joint statement. “The two agreed to continue meeting soon.”
Earlier, Eisenkot told the Municipal Corporations Association conference in Eilat that he intends to “advance reform in the judicial system,” without elaborating.
Eisenkot also addressed the state of personal security, saying National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir should be dismissed immediately.
“Those responsible for this failure should hand in the keys and go home,” Eisenkot said. “The police commissioner bears responsibility. The national security minister bears responsibility. Saying they should be fired is not just a slogan. By the test of results, there has been a complete failure in national security.”
Eisenkot also reiterated his call for a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre. “When I entered the position [of chief of staff] in 2015, there was a need to examine the previous decade,” he said. “No stone should be left unturned.”
3 View gallery
Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett at the launch of the Together Party
(Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Lapid, whose Yesh Atid party is now allied with Bennett’s, attacked the government’s handling of the Haredi draft issue during his faction meeting.
“Lawmakers are facing horrifying data the army submitted yesterday,” Lapid said. “The IDF does not have enough soldiers. They want to extend mandatory service, they want once again to send out hundreds of thousands of reserve duty orders — and still, the IDF does not have enough soldiers. Not in Gaza, not in Lebanon, not on the Syrian border, not in the West Bank.”
“Despite this, Netanyahu is summoning Likud lawmakers to his office and telling them: ‘Don’t worry, no one will remember that you supported the law. By the election, they’ll forget,’” Lapid said. “I say to those Likud members: They will not forget. We will make sure they do not forget.”
At the start of The Democrats faction meeting, party chairman Yair Golan accused the government of trying “to accustom the public to a daily blood price.”
“The list of fallen soldiers keeps growing,” Golan said. “The Israeli government is conducting a campaign with no purpose and no future, turning IDF soldiers into ducks at Hezbollah’s drone shooting range.”
He added: “Netanyahu, as usual, is incapable of making a decision that serves Israel’s security. I am not sure he is physically and cognitively fit to manage the difficult systems we are facing.”
Meanwhile, Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz said the Iran issue “is bigger than the political arguments of yes-Bibi or no-Bibi,” using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nickname.
“I will give full backing to a powerful and swift move against Iran that puts removing uranium at the top of the priority list,” Gantz said.
On judicial reform legislation, Gantz said: “When there was a unity government, there was no attack on the judicial system,” referring to his short-lived union with Netanyahu's government in the wake of the Oct.7 attack.
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman addressed personal security during his party’s faction meeting, warning of cooperation between criminal groups and Israel’s enemies.
“The armed militias in southern Israel will join forces with Nukhba terrorists, and those crime organizations in the north will join forces with Hezbollah,” Liberman said, referring to Hamas' elite unit. “Even today, there is cooperation between Hezbollah and those criminal organizations.”