Democrats chair Yair Golan said to request security detail due to threats on his life

Yair Golan, chair of the left-wing The Democrats party, has requested government security protection following what he described as threats against his life, the Walla news site reported Wednesday, as concern continues to grow about political violence ahead of the October 27 election.

Golan wrote recently to Shin Bet chief David Zini and Central Elections Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg to request a security detail, the outlet reported, citing an influx of social media posts that wished him grievous bodily harm or death.

One such post cited by Golan called for him to take “a bullet to the head,” while another called to “gouge out” his eyes, and claimed that he and his family deserved to be hanged because he “caused a second Holocaust to the Jewish people.”

Walla cited a party spokesperson as saying that “the police raised the threat assessment level for the chairman of the Democrats,” and said the party was demanding he receive a security detail “against the backdrop of threats to his life.”

The report came two days after Channel 12 alleged that the Shin Bet had allowed election frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot’s private guards to carry weapons. The decision was an apparent compromise after the security agency turned down a request to provide an official security detail for Eisenkot, who chairs the opposition Yashar party. Zini’s initial decision to deny security to Eisenkot had sparked sharp criticism from opposition politicians.

The requests for security come as the political landscape continues to shift two months ahead of the vote. All eyes have turned to Ofer Winter, a hawkish former general who launched a new right-wing party on Tuesday. Winter’s entry has troubled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has reportedly lamented his Likud party’s poor showing in private conversations and spoken about losing the vote.

The premier has in recent days publicly urged Winter’s faction to merge with existing parties, for fear that fragmentation on the right could cause one or more parties to fall short of entering the Knesset, sealing a Likud loss.

A poll by Channel 13 on Wednesday predicted just that scenario, showing Winter’s new People of Israel party winning too few votes to enter the Knesset, and predicting that Netanyahu’s Likud would win just 19 seats as opposed to Yashar’s 24. Still, like nearly every poll for months, this one showed neither the pro- nor anti-Netanyahu blocs attaining a 61-seat majority of the 120-seat parliament.

The anti-Netanyahu bloc would win 57, Netanyahu’s backers would win just 48, and Arab parties would take 15.

Eisenkot, Winter trade barbs over security strategy

There has been some speculation that Winter could join the anti-Netanyahu camp, but that prospect appeared to hit a wall on Wednesday.

Eisenkot, in an interview with Channel 13, said he would not offer Winter the role of defense minister in a future government, explaining that although he believes Winter to be a “good field commander,” he would not be the right man for the job because “he was not part of the IDF’s strategic leadership command, nor did he hold senior roles.”

Winter hit back at the former military chief in a video sent to reporters, saying: “I have no intention of being part of your government, and I will do everything to ensure it does not come to fruition.”

“For years, I have opposed the security concept you led,” Winter said, arguing that there was “a strategic perceptual chasm” between himself and Eisenkot.

Winter has been the subject of various controversies over the past decade-plus, and was released from the military in 2024 after being passed over for promotion.

At the launch of his People of Israel party on Tuesday night, Winter vowed to pursue a hawkish security policy and opined that the political arena must not remain unchanged in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

In the wake of October 7, Winter said that he would resign if he had been in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shoes at the time of the massacre.

Netanyahu continues to appear rattled by Winter. Dimona Mayor Benny Bitton told Channel 12 on Wednesday evening that Netanyahu had attempted to head off Winter at the pass by offering him a guaranteed spot on the Likud list weeks ago, but that he refused to answer calls from the prime minister’s office.

The Kan public broadcaster reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu raised the issue of his party’s dismal showing in the polls during a recent meeting, telling participants that “10 mandates have escaped us. I don’t know how to get them back.”

According to the report, Netanyahu is struggling to find an effective campaign tactic and believes that unless something changes, Likud will lose the election.

Erdan, Gantz discuss possible merger

Among the new right-wing parties that could fall short of the Knesset are Sharren Haskel’s Israel First, Yuli Edelstein and Gilad Erdan’s Unity, and Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper’s Zionist Home-The Reservists.

The parties, along with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White, are all part of a so-called third bloc of center-right factions that aim to force a compromise between the two larger blocs in order to create a broad, Zionist unity government.

In an apparent bid to boost his chances, Erdan reportedly met on Wednesday with Gantz to discuss a potential merger between their parties.

For months, polls have shown Blue and White failing to pass the electoral threshold, and many of the party’s current lawmakers have resigned or said they will not stand with the party in the upcoming election.

According to both Kan and Israel Hayom, the meeting came after several weeks of communications between the two men.

The meeting was positive, Israel Hayom said, and both sides agreed to another sit-down soon.

Earlier on Wednesday, Erdan’s political partner Edelstein told The Times of Israel that there were no “ongoing” serious negotiations with other parties at present, but that he expected them to begin in earnest “somewhere in the beginning of September, and the agreements will be signed, in the best case, on September 6.”

The deadline for parties to submit their official electoral slates is September 8.

“It doesn’t mean that we can’t talk to each other or write to each other or meet each other for a cup of coffee, but the negotiations, I’m honestly telling you, will happen in a week from now, something like that,” Edelstein added. “Not just us, all the parties will really start talking when push comes to shove.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.